Kyuubi's Dragon
by inumuro
Summary: The Kyuubi was forcibly summoned and made to fight for humans, but what if Kyuubi's mate came looking for her? What if he became attached to Naruto? What kind of ninja will this produce. Strong but not op Naruto, NaruHina
1. 1: Adoption

This is my first time every publishing something online, and I would love criticism! Please let me know how I can make this better for everyone! I hope you all enjoy it! I know this first chapter feels a little rushed, but I'm really trying to get the first plot out sweet and fast so bare with me! Hope you enjoy!

And this is updated, not much change in this one, but read through! ^.^

Naruto sat in his own secluded part of the playground, sadly observing the other children as they played. No one would play with him, no one would even spare him the time of the day, even if it was his birthday. This was simply how things had been as long as the little blond could remember, even if he was only five.

With a sigh Naruto stood up from the shade of his favorite tree and walked back inside of the orphanage with his head hung low. Why did everyone ignore him and stare at him with those cold cruel eyes? Why did they- "Oomph! Oh sorry mister!"

Naruto apologized frantically as he looked up at the adult he had bumped into, hoping that they wouldn't yell at him or strike him for bumping into them. The image he took in wasn't all too reassuring in itself.

The man stood around six foot tall and wore mostly black clothing. Black combat boots, black cargo pants tucked into the boots, black long sleeve shirt covered with a grey and white swirled vest, and a even a long black coat that hung down to the mans ankles. He has shaggy silver hair and an intimidatingly built face. Nothing too extraordinary but not at all inviting either.

However what truly entrapped Naruto's gaze was the mans eyes. They were a hard grey with untold depth in them that spoke volumes. They spoke out two things in particular to Naruto. One which he couldn't really relate to being as energetic as he was, was a look of exhaustion. Something that said the man was simply tired, to his very core, and no amount of sleep could ever remove it from his eyes. The other look was one Naruto knew all too well, for he saw it every time he looked in the mirror. It was one of loneliness, a look of someone who had no one and nothing to call his own. But barely pulled over top of all of that was a glaze of warmth and comfort, barely there, as if it was strained, and barely holding on.

Then the man did something that Naruto had not expected him to do at all, in fact he gave young Naruto quite the surprise indeed. Kneeling down to one knee the man put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and gave him a warm and genuine smile, like the one of that who had just found something special. "Don't worry about it, It was probably my fault anyway, I'm always lost in the clouds. Whats your name little man?" Asked the man smiling at the Naruto.

For a moment Naruto was indeed shocked at the mans demeanor. It was very rare that he got a smile from anyone, and even more so that it wasn't because he hurt himself or had a painful accident. Breaking out of his shock Naruto replied, "Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage!"

The man dressed in black laughed a little at that and replied to the energetic blond. "I bet you are little guy. And now that I know your name its only fair that you know mine. I am Ryuunosuke Kuroi-Tsume. A weird name I know, but my mother was quite the oddball herself."

Naruto took in the mans name and etched it into his mind as one of the very few people who seemed to treat him alright. Overtly happy that the man was paying him positive attention Naruto called out to the man, "So what are you doing here Ryu-san? You obviously don't work here. Are you a ninja? I mean you look really cool with those clothes and-"

Even though Ryu had a huge grin on his face at the blondes energy he cut him off. "Whoa whoa whoa little guy, too many questions at once!" he said with a chuckle ruffling the blondes hair. "I'm here to meet some kids and hopefully find someone to adopt." Naruto's eyes got wide and a faint hope dared to foster itself some were inside of himself and before he knew it, that little bit of hope consumed him.

But before he could saying the voice of the woman Naruto had failed to notice that was escorting Ryu spoke up with a bit of venom in her tone, staring at Naruto while she talked, even though she was addressing Ryu. "Excuse me Ryu-san but the rest of the children are outside, I'll take you to meet them."

Ryu looked back up at the young woman and gave her a critical stare. "Ahh but I'm quite enjoying the company of young Uzumaki-san here, in fact you could say that I'm quite taken with him." Both Naruto's and the assistants eyeballs looked like they would explode right out of their skulls. Ryu grinned in amusement.

The assistant was about to object to Ryu with something along the lines of how he didn't want that child, when she was intercepted by the Head Caretaker of the orphanage. "Oh is that so Ryuunosuke-san?" She asked. Ryu nodded with a large grin on his face at the women's antics. "If you'd like we could set you both up with a room for a bit so you could get to know each other a bit better?"

Ryu kept up his smile and looked back down to Naruto before speaking, "Well that would be great, if Naruto is ok with it that it?" His hopes skyrocketing every second Naruto couldn't really do anything but smile and vigorously nod at the two. The woman who was escorting Ryu looked rather confused for a long moment before she quickly hid it away and played along.

The care taker grinned. With any luck the fool would adopt the demon boy and he would be out of her hair forever. With that she led the two down the hall to the room where potential parents would meet with the children.

-Hokage tower-

Sarutobi looked into his crystal ball with a mix of happiness and concern at the scene playing out before him. On one hand he was very happy that someone had taken an interest in Naruto as a potential adopt. On the other hand that man was certainly a ninja, it was in the way he carried himself, in the very way he walked. However, he had no forehead protector, and Sarutobi was positive he had never seen that man before in his life.

"Bear!" Sarutobi shouted out to the hidden Anbu in his office. A black clad shinobi with a bear mask on instantly and silently appeared before the Hokages desk kneeling. "Yes Milord." He asked humbly. Looking over at his subordinate Sarutobi gave him his orders. "Find out who this Ryuunosuke Kuroi-Tsume is. Check the citizen registries, bingo books, personal files, everything. I want a full report as soon as humanly possible." "Hai." Was bears only response before suddenly disappearing without a sound so that he could carry out his Hokages orders. Sarutobi returned to the crystal ball and watched it with singular interest, hoping to learn more about this man.

-Orphanage-

Naruto and Ryu had been talking for quite some time now and Ryu had to admit, he was quite taken by the blondes hyperactive and eccentric personality. It quite reminded him of himself in his younger years.

Turning serious Ryu looked over at the boy who was practically loosing his mind at having someone interested in him and giving much needed attention and asked him a question that would change Naruto's life forever. "I really think your a cool kid little guy, how would you like to come live with me?" If the demon inside of Naruto reacted to positive emotions Naruto would've leveled half the village with the explosion from the sudden release of chakra as he tackled Ryo and yelled "YEAH!"

Naruto wasn't the only one who was ecstatic at the mans question as the Head Caretaker who was listening in from the other side of the door quite uncharacteristically did a fist pump into the air and let out a silent 'yeah!' of her own. Almost immediately she walked into the room with a stack of paperwork for Naruto's potential new father, more than ready to get that damned demon the hell out of her orphanage and away from the other children.

Ryu grinned as she handed him the paperwork for the adoption forms. "So eager to be rid of him. If they weren't so blinded by their hatred for him they might give me some trouble for being a new resident here..." He thought to himself as he filled out the forms.

-Hokage tower-

Sarutobi was beginning to get concerned at the pace with which things were progressing and called for his subordinate. "Bear! Report!" Bear appeared in front of the Hokage with a plain folder which he handed over to Sarutobi.

With that Bear began his report. "Ryuunosuke Kuroi-Tsume, Age 21, Height 6ft 2in, Weight 194lbs, Hair color, Silver, Eye color, silver. Born in the outskirts of Fire country as a farmers son, he changed his name 5 years ago when his parents died in a stampeed caused by the panic of the animals sensing the Kyuubi's chakra. Feeling that things would've been different if he was stronger he began to self train using scrolls he got from a passing ninja. He was said to have just shut himself off from the rest of the village, dedicating himself to his training regimen and undergoing quite the change as an individual. Three months ago he moved here to the Hidden leaf village and shortly after he applied for his shinobi status and has an appointment scheduled with Jonin Commander Shikaku Nara in one weeks time to display his worth and have his status and rank determined. Early readings of his chakra have put him around high genin, perhaps low chunin. Much of the information gathered here was a result of the mandatory investigation of all new Konoha residents who wish to become a shinobi."

Sarutobi read along as Bear talked, confirming everything the man was saying and in all honesty felt slightly better about the situation, but was not entirely convinced by the mans story. The man loosing his family to the Kyuubi was particularly suspicious as he was now looking to adopt Naruto. However there was not enough to prove ill intent, after all he was by all legal rights, a natural born citizen of the Fire Nation, and at this point a legal citizen of Konoha.

With a sigh Sarutobi handed the folder back to Bear and ordered him to have an Anbu watch and assess the developing relationship between Naruto and his soon to be father figure. With a nod Bear disappeared silently. "Let us hope for all of our sake's that your intent is pure of heart Ryuunosuke..." Thought Sarutobi as he leaned back into his chair, taking a long puff off of his pipe.

-Orphanage front door-

Ryu looked over his shoulder at the orphanage with a bit of disdain as he and an extremely excited and bouncy Naruto walked away from the building and into the street. "To think they wouldn't even come and check on my housing condition or put me on a probation period before letting me take the child home? Just how bad did that troublesome fox wreck this joint?" He thought shaking his head.

Naruto shook him from his thoughts as he grabbed his wrist with a grumbling stomach and puppy eyes. "Uhm... Ryu-san... Could we get something to eat?" He asked a bit timidly. Ryu grinned at the little blond clinging to his side as if his life depended on it. Ryu gave the young boy a big smile and ruffled his hair. "Of course, anything you want little guy. And after that we can go to the toy store and get you a few things. After all it is your birthday isn't it? Which reminds me, Happy birthday Naruto." He told the little blonde without ever loosing that overly large grin. Naruto whooped and began running all over the place cheering while Ryu simply chuckled at his antics.

-Flash Forward-

Over the next year life was good for Naruto under the care of Ryu and Sarutobi lost much of his suspicion over the man that had adopted the Fourth Hokages son. To Sarutobi it seemed that more than anything the man was horribly alone and simply wanted someone to fil that void. He had passed his test with Shikaku rather well and was enstated as a chunin of the village. He protected Naruto from any who would give him harm, gave him everything he could afford on his moderate pay, taught him to be modest and kind in life (although that was Naruto anyway), and much to the dismay of the villagers and the amusement of the Hokage, had highly encouraged his mischievous nature. He even went so far as to help him out on several occasions.

Ryu himself was considered an oddball by many for his habits. He did, odd things. He would rearrange random items, would say nonsensical tidbits to random people, and more often than not, left very confused people in his wake. He took mostly B and C rank missions that were short term as not to leave Naruto alone for long periods of time.

Other than that the two kept to themselves for the most part. This was because now that Naruto had the attention and love of someone who he had recently settled into calling dad, he didn't need anyone else. None of the other children would play with Naruto, but he would survive.

But for Ryu, all of his spare time was consumed with the riddle of how to do what he needed to do to that infernally complex seal upon Naruto's stomach. It was nightmarishly worse than he had imagined it to be, and honestly in his opinion was total overkill for the task it was assigned. A seal that strong could have properly and easily held the ten tails, much less the nine tails.

Ryu had told Naruto the truth quietly over dinner one night several months ago about his tennant. The hyper active blonde took it quite well, all things considered. And even more surprising to Ryu he had a rather easy time keeping quiet about it.

-Flashback-

It was another enthusiastic dinner at Ryu and Naruto's home as the two barely resisted the urge to toss food at one another or make some snarky goofball comments as they joked and played around. Ryu had just returned from a weeklong mission, and honestly he had been worried about leaving Naruto alone for that long. In the beggining, while he had no intent of harming an innocent child, Naruto truly hadn't been much more than a means to an end.

However, Naruto being Naruto, had quickly wormed his way into Ryu's heart with a surprising quickness. Ryu found himself more and more attached to the young blonde as the days and weeks went by. Then one day Ryu had surprised Naruto one day with his own room he had made especially for the boy, customized to fit Naruto's tastes, the boy in a fit of joy had shouted out "YOUR THE BEST DAD EVER!" as he practically tackled Ryu. After that show of emotion, Ryu had been irreversibly snared in Naruto heart, and vice versa.

For the past few days Ryu had been considering the merits of telling Naruto the truth, and now, he figured was as good a time as any. Getting serious, Ryu said, "Naruto, I have something rather important to tell you." Naruto perked up, and seeing Ryu with his serious face on, something Naruto had only seen once before, straightened instantly and nodded, his full attention given.

"I want you to know the reason why everyone gives you so much trouble. But before I begin, know that none of this is your fault alright?" Naruto didn't really speak, as nervous as he was for a young child, but mumbled a small affirmative. Ryu went through the speech reguarding the events of that night five years ago, also explaining that the Kyuubi was not at fault.

Naurto looked confused at that last bit and asked, "But if Kyuubi attacked the village, how is it not his fault?" Ryu sighed and looked at Naurto with a sad face. "I knew her, quite well Naruto. She was never one to kill without a very good reason. It was more than likely that someone was controlling her." He replied simply, but as the mind of a six year old goes, that was good enough for him, his dad said so, so why wouldn't it be true?

Seeing his dad with a sad look on his face Naruto went up to Ryu and gave him a big hug. Ryu smiled a little at that and gave him a hug back. "Just remember Naruto, all of this is very important to be kept secret ok?" Naruto grinned and shook his head in affirmation, "You can count on me!"

-Flashback End-

It seemed, if nothing else, the little guy was superb at keeping his word, and Ryu also suspected that he didn't want anyone who didn't already know to have more of a reason to dislike him, or just outright fear him. But tonight was going to be stressful for both Naruto and Ryu, for tonight Ryu was going to alter the seal upon Naruto's stomach, and if all went well then no one would be the wiser and the two would continue to live in peace brought on by ambiguity.

Ryu had cleared out the entire living room for the transfer array he had concocted and was checking it over for the umpteenth time. Ryu had told Naruto he needed to do some work on his seal, so that he could talk with the Kyuubi, which was, mostly true. Finally deciding everything was in order, Ryu decided to get on with it.

Calling Naruto into the living room Ryu informed him that the sealing processes they had talked about earlier to the blond was ready to get started. Upon hearing this Naruto got as serious as a young boy could get and sat down in a meditation pose that Ryu had shown him. "Well Naruto. lets get started..." Said Ryu, just a hint of concern in his voice. He wasn't putting one, but both of his precious people on the line with this, he couldn't afford to screw it up.

-Hokage Tower-

Sarutobi was doing more of his troublesome paperwork and nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice of his student behind him. "Been a long time sensei." Said Jiraiya from his perch on the window sill as he settled down, getting as comfortable as he could in his stone perch. Taking a breath to calm his nerves Sarutobi replied. "Well now, Its been a long time Jiraiya, too what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well I heard that Naruto got adopted, so I felt I should stop by to see how that was playing out." Said Jiraiya to his sensei. Sarutobi smiled at his students inquisition. "It's going quite well actually. I had my suspicions about the man, but even after I told the man that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of the boy he simply told me that it wasn't Naruto's fault, and no child should ever be forced to be alone. The two are practically inseparable."

The two spoke of the situation for quite some time before Jiraiya gave his sensei a grunt and looked out over the village. After a moment he said "Well be that as it may I think I'll swing by and see how things are at home for myself." And with that Jiraiya disappeared from his perch on the window sill and headed out towards were Sarutobi told him the two were living. Sarutobi shook his head, even though Jiraiya couldn't be there for Naruto like he wanted, he was very protective of the boy. He just hoped that he didn't scare Ryu too much with threats of 'if anything happens to him' and what not.

-Naruto and Ryu's Apartment-

Naruto was unconscious in his meditation position and Ryu was panting a bit from the concentration he was exerting as he was running through the final phases of his modification to the seal. Around his neck hung a platinum chain holding a pendant of dragon holding a large egg shaped diamond with all four of its legs, its wings curled protectively around its prescious cargo and its tail dangled below in a lazy S shape. But what was intriguing about it was that it was glowing with a bright reddish glow.

"Almost... done..." Ryu though as he was finishing that last stages of the procedure. While it was true that the Nine Tails could not be removed without killing Naruto, with a slight modification a piece of the Nine Tails could be removed without much damage thanks to the alteration he had made. This was all that really needed to be done, even if it did cost him quite a few more years in his plans. Then at that moment Ryu's heart dropped as he heard a knock at the door, accompanied by a rather potent chakra signature. "No! Not now!" Ryu though frantically as he hurried to finish. He must finish.

Jiraiya stared at his hand blankly for a moment, feeling the Ninetails chakra arcing through his fingers from when his knuckles happened to rap against the containment seal on the door, meant to mask its presence through absorption. Realizing something was terribly wrong with that, he busted straight through the door and came upon a sight that filled him with rage. The man Sarutobi had described as a loving caretaker to Naruto was standing over the unconscious boy his hands together in a seal, eyes wide and calculating at Jiraiya's sudden presence.

Quickly glancing over the seals seeing that it was a modification and transfer array written across the floor, walls and even the ceiling, Jiraiya looked at Ryu staring him down, not with fear, but annoyance. His anger building Jiraiya began building chakra, he knew he couldn't interrupt the sealing, that could kill Naruto, and this array more than likely wouldn't really cause much harm, but he would be ready to decimate this man the second it was over.

Jiraiya didn't have to wait long, Ryu dropped his hand seals and panted for a second as the seals lost their faint red glow, signaling the procedure complete. Jiraiya's only words were, "You're dead." The resulting explosion certainly alerted the entire village to presence of trouble as half of Naruto's Ryu's apartment was neatly decimated as Jiraiya tried to Rasengan him into oblivion. Anbu swarmed to the scene to find Jiraiya holding Naruto in his arms and Ryu standing on a nearby roof, having barely dodged the attack, still panting slightly from the exhaustion of the transfer seal, clutching his pendant with an iron grip.

Jiraiya looked over to see Kakashi next to him. "Kakashi, take Naruto to the hospital. His seal has been tampered with and I don't know how it will affect him, I will handle this scum." Kakashi merely Nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves after scooping up a sleeping Naruto from Jiraiya's arms. "The rest of you stand back. I'll handle this traitor." The Anbu, fully confident in the Sannin stepped back. Ryu finally got control of his breathing, and spoke, a stupid grin upon his face, "Now now... Lets not be hasty..." But Jiraiya was seeing red, and simply charged the man, how dare he lay his hands on his students son!

Ryu wasn't happy either and surprised Jiraiya by managing to sidestep the Sannins punch and flipping back creating hand signs. Finishing his seals and seeing a rapidly approaching Jiraiya Ryu yelled, "Molecular Realignment Jutsu!" Slamming his left palm into the slate roof he pulled a six foot long cross spear from the roof that had a dark cherry pole and gleaming white blade, leaving a crater of missing material. Bringing the weapon up between him and Jiraiya, he blocked the Sannin's punch with the pole of the spear and pushed Jiraiya back before rapidly twirling it around himself and bringing the blade back down over his head even as Jiraiya launched himself backward to dodge the blow making more hand signs.

The spear impacted the roof heavily blowing it halfway apart as Jiraiya launched his next attack "Water Bullet Justu!" And began shooting water bullet after water bullet at Ryu who began to back flip at high speed with his spear, either dodging or deflecting the shots with his spear. Realizing too late his mistake in creating distance Jiraiya shot after Ryu who had taken the opportunity to flee as fast as possible towards the outside of the village. "COME BACK HERE COWARD!" Shouted Jiraiya, flying after Ryu.

-Hospital-

Saurtobi rushed into the room holding Naruto to find Kakashi standing gaurd over Naruto's sleeping form. "What happened." Sarutobi demanded. Kakashi looked over his book at the Hokage, "It appears Naruto's care taker and adoptive parent, built a sealing array, and took a part of the Kyuubi out of Naruto. Jiraiya is handling him now." Sarutobi was furious. Looking at the sleeping Naruto he continued, "Is Naruto alright?" "Yea. It appears that Ryu when through extremes to make sure the procedure didn't harm Naruto. That's my opinion at least from what I saw what was left of the array after Jiraiya blew the apartment halfway to hell, and judging from the fact that Naruto seems perfectly fine except for some exhaustion. I can still sense all of the Kyuubi's chakra sealed inside of him, so that leaves me with the question, what did he take? Did he fail?" Sarutobi was about to reply when a flash of white light from the outskirts of the village followed by a shock wave blowing the window out interrupted them.

-Just Outside of Konohoa, Several Minutes Prior-

Jiraiya had Ryu against a tree holding a kunai to his neck, steel in his eyes. Ryu looked just as pissed as he held his hands together in a hand sign staring the Sannin down. They stayed that way for a long moment, neither willing to back down from the staring contest. Then finally the silence was broken. "Why. He trusted you! WHY!?" Shouted Jiraiya. Ryu gave him a rather unexpected answer with a soft smile, "For love." before Jiraiya could speak again Ryu shouted "PARTIAL RELEASE!" White light condensed around Ryu and blew the Sannin back, leaving a huge crater.

Feeling like he had been sucker punched Jiraiya scrambled to his feet and squinted into the dying light, trying to see if Ryu was still alive or not. Finally making out his combatant he gasped at what he saw. "No... Thats not possible, Fukasaku said that they were no longer apart of this plane of existance!" Slowly standing up with great effort, was indeed Ryu, but not the Ryu we all know, he was no longer human, a long thick tail hung from the base of his spine, swaying and twitching too and fro, his entire body was covered in tiny white scales, his hands had claws, his feet had turned into long dragon like paws complete with talons, and his head was entirely draconian, long muzzle and black horns. The scales on the tip of his tail, hands, and feet were black which faded into smoke like tendrils before fading into white, he still wore the same pants and vest. "No wings... this must only be a partial transformation, between human and dragon... I'll have to go to sage mode to play it safe..." As he tried to remember everything Fukasaku had told him about dragons so many years ago when he was a wide eyed Genin.

As Ryu slowly staggered to his feet and panted he knew he was in trouble, he had used far to much of his chakra reserves during the seal transfer and he wouldn't be able to out brawl Jiraiya, hell he didn't really think he could out brawl him on a good day, especially if he was in sage mode. He would have to build chakra and put out his strongest attack right off the bat if he was to have a chance at escaping. "But I will come back for you Naruto... Don't worry..." He though as he began building his energy, But suddenly Anbu swarmed him at Jiraiya's signal to buy the Sannin time to summon Fukasaku and Shima.

Ryu cursed as he built chakra with one hand and fended off various Anbu with his tail, feet, and spear in his other hand. Down, left, up, roll, swing, flip... It was all reaction, one by one he took down the Anbu that swarmed him, doing his best not to kill them as he did so, although some ended up with some rather grisly wounds from his spear. He had reach with his spear, and he still had enough speed to stay one step ahead. He was almost there, he almost had enough chakra gathered in the orb in front of his chest. But suddenly, "SHIT!" he though as the Anbu dispersed and Jiraiya rushed in at almost supersonic speeds and delivered a hay maker to Ryu's right cheek, Ryu lost his concentration and dropped his orb of gathered chakra. It was a good thing Jiraiya's speed propelled them a good distance from the epicenter. The blast was insane, as Jiraiya himself would later say, and it instantly incinerated the closest area and the shockwave leveled everything else. It was like a Biju bomb went off.

After the dust and dirt settled Jiraiya, Fukasaku, and Shima pulled themselves up off the ground to find a barely conscious Ryu leaning up against a tree, panting heavily. "You can't... you can't have her..." Ryu muttered clutching his pendant. Jiraiya stood over the defeated dragon and looked him in the face hard and long before he asked the same thing he had asked earlier. "Why?" Ryu looked in the sage's eyes, and knew he had lost, all that was left was to try and appeal to his better nature. "Because I love her... and it wasn't her fault for what she did to this village..." He said clutching his pendant tightly. Jiraiya shook his head, confused. "Who on earth are you talking about?" Ryu grinned a lot like a fox, which was odd seeing as he was a dragon. "Kyuubi..." Was Ryu's only response.


	2. 2: Interrogation

I was honestly surprised to get follows, favorites, and reviews so soon. So I'll try my best to keep giving you chapters, but please give me feedback guys, I need to know how to improve and all that good stuff. Well, Here's chapter 2

Only very minor changes here.

Jiraiya was stunned to say the least. The words didn't even process at first. He loved the Kyuubi? That was his excuse? He couldn't fault a man for trying to save someone they loved but at the same time he couldn't even begin to comprehend how someone could love a monster like that fox. "Explain." Was his only statement as he stood over his defeated foe.

Ryu chuckled at that, coughing a little as he did. "You humans think everything is yours. You never stop to think what you might be taking before your lock it away. She is mine, and i wont let you take her away from me." His sentence finished with a conviction that even Jiraiya had respect for. However Jiraiya couldn't let an unknown ninja, no matter his species or reasons, run off with a piece of the Kyuubi, whatever it was that he took he didn't know, but he could not allow it into someone else's hands. With a quick jab he hit Ryu on the neck, rendering him unconscious.

As Jiraiya reached for the pendant, he was thinking if he could reverse engineer Ryu's sealing array to replace what had been removed, however his line of thought was harshly cut off by a miniature bolt of lightning from the unconscious Ryu's form, burning his hand and numbing his entire arm. For an instant he saw a seal array light up upon the dragons chest, displaying an extremely complex protection array focused upon the necklace he was wearing.

At the sight of this it was Fukasaku who spoke up, "Jiraiya boy, I suggest you wait for him to wake up and give him some thorough questioning." Looking over at his toad sensei Jiraiya grunted and asked, "And why should I give him another chance to escape?" Shima shook her head and replied with "From what I remember of them dragons were always honorable beings, so i doubt he was malicious in his intents. Get the full story before acting." Jiraiya knew they were right but damned if he wasn't pissed off about the man playing with Naruto's emotions. "Fine. We'll take him before the Hokage." And with that Jiraiya picked up the unconscious man and headed towards the Hokage Tower

-Konoha Hospital, Several Minutes Prior-

Naruto's eyes shot open from the blast of energy that so kindly removed his hospital window and sent glass everywhere. Looking around and trying to gather his surroundings the young blonde realized where he was and after seeing the Hokage and some strange silver haired ninja gathering their composure and staring out the shattered window, looks of awe and worry marring their faces.

"Jiisan... Where's Dad?" He asked, becoming more and more nervous by the second. Naruto knew no one was supposed to know about what was happening and if Jiisan was here it wasn't likely that was the case. Sarutobi looked down at the wide eyed boy who was on the verge of loosing it and just couldn't bring himself to break his heart. He couldn't just say that he had been betrayed by the only person who had ever given him time of day.

With a sigh and a fake smile Sarutobi placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and gave him some comfort. "Ryu is out on a mission right now Naruto, I'll let you know when he gets back alright. Kakashi?" Kakashi nodded letting the Hokage know he would stay and watch over the boy. Just as Sarutobi walked out of the room he found an Anbu awaiting him. "Hokage-sama, the enemy ninja has been captured. Jiraiya requests your immediate presence. He is holding the prisoner in your office." The Anbu stated curtly. Sarutobi nodded in affirmation and headed towards the Hokage Tower.

-Hokage Tower-

Sarutobi had just finished getting the lowdown of everything that had happened from Jiraiya and look at the bound and unconscious form in the chair in front of his desk. Sarutobi rubbed his temple at the situation. It was, as his jonin commander would say, 'troublesome.' Even as he was thinking of how to wake the captive, Ryu began to stir in his seat.

Looking up to the two men in the office who were giving him stern glares all that Ryu could manage to say was, "Shit... Anyone got some coffee? I got a headache from hell..." Both Sarutobi and Jaraiya couldn't help but sweat drop at the question before Sarutobi replied, "Your not exactly in the position to be asking for coffee Ryuunosuke." Ryu chuckled a little then got a bit serious. "Is Naruto ok?" Sarutobi's face darkened a little. "How dare you ask about his welfare after putting him and this entire village at risk by altering the Fourths seal?" Ryu rolled his eyes and shot back, "I knew what I was doing old man. I'm worried if the destruction of my apartment by the oh so gallant Jiraiya caused him to get hurt."

Jiraiya had a brief stare down with Ryu, but simply asked, "So exactly what were you doing to the Fourths seal? It was clearly a transfer array, and judging by the lengths you went to protect that necklace, whatever you took is now in it." Ryu leaned back in the chair and sighed. "I took something that I've been looking for ever since that day the First Hokage battled with Madara Uchiha. I took back the other half of my heart." Jiraiya grabbed Ryu by his collar and lifted him out of his chair and slammed him into the wall. "You must be a madman if you think that the Kyuubi could ever love anything. You weren't there when it leveled half of Konoha! Men women and children alike! There was no discretion!" Sarutobi shook his head at his students hot headed behavior, but could understand it, so he let it slide.

Ryu simply glared at the Toad Sannin, matching his glare with even greater ferocity. "You humans think so little of us. Do you think that just because you summoned us that we would roll over and become your servant and fight for you? As if! Our hearts and minds are our own. That fool of an Uchiha used the most powerful genjutsu known to your kind to control her. Then the first Hokage, rather than let her go, imprisoned her! Then just like before the whole process happened again with the Fourth. Your destruction is your own folly."

Jiraiya pulled his fist back to silence Ryu but his arm was held by Sarutobi. "Be that as it may, the Kyuubi is dangerous, and we can't risk freeing it. As you said someone with intent could control it and it would be the doom of us all." Sarutobi told his captive. He then continued, "Now then, when you said you took back the other half of your heart, that wasn't really self explanatory. What did you do, please go into detail."

Ryu rolled his eyes at the two old men in front of him. "I moved her out of him. Almost none of her chakra, but all of her memories, her personality... her soul. She is now sealed in this pendant. And this pendant has years worth of every ounce of chakra I could muster sealed into it, try to tamper with it or take it, and you'll get quite the bang... Aren't chakra bombs fun?" Gloated Ryu to his captors.

Jiraiya released Ryu and let him slide down to the floor. Thinking for a long, hard while, with an ever grinning Ryu, the three sat quietly contemplating their next move. Then Jiraiya had to ask the question. "Then what will become of all the Youkai chakra sealed in Naruto still? Will it simply fade with time and use?" Ryu shook his head. "When you reach Biju levels of chakra it is self sustaining. Like a star, it will replenish and recreate itself, but without my mate controlling it and organizing it, Naruto will find that harnessing its power quite the monumental task. However... Without her organization there may be some side affects later in his life..." Ryu explained.

Sarutobi and Jiraiya glanced at each other after hearing this revelation and the Hokage asked, "What... kind of side effects?" Ryu frowned and shook his head. "Very slowly but surely, the Biju chakra will try to assimilate its host to be more comfortable to itself, breeding a more fox like appearance to the boy. Enhanced senses as well as a few physical changes are possible, but his psyche and sense of self will remained untouched."

Jiraiya was furious, as if the boy didn't have enough problems without looking like a fox. How dare this man twist the Fourth's legacy so badly? "So you've gone and set the boy on a path to turning into a Hanyou?" Ryu shook his head again. "In all honesty how much he changes depends completely on his control over it gets. Hell if he is ever able to completely master it then I don't doubt that he could even reverse the effects, but that level of control would take decades. And that leads us to the next step of our negotiations. I would like to continue as his adoptive parent."

At this request Sarutobi had to hold Jiraiya back again as he tried to pummel the man. "How dare you even think of making such a request!? After what you've done you'll be lucky if we don't outright execute you in this room tonight!" Ryu rolled his eyes at the mans over zealous anger and pride. "You don't get it do you? His chakra isn't human. And while you Jiraiya have some experience with foreign chakra due to your sage arts, you weren't born with it like me! You couldn't begin to teach him control as well as I could! It was what I planned to do from the start until you rudely barged into our home because believe it or not I do care for the little guy! Children are sacred to all races Jiraiya, you would do well as not to label us as monsters."

Jiraiya was seething at the arrogance that Ryu was displaying. However Sarutobi who was managing to keep a cool head spoke up before he could. "And what will become of the Kyuubi?" The question was short and simple, which Ryu was grateful for, because it allowed him to answer with as little information as possible. Taking a deep breath, like that of tired old man, preparing to endure the rest of a long hard road, the last stretch before home. "She will take time to rebuild herself. It will be five to ten years before she can create a solid body, depending on how much of my own chakra I can spare her. Even then it will be weak, low to high chunin at best. For her to regain her full power? Honestly I'm looking at near a century." That answer seemed to comfort the two elder ninja, if just a little.

Ryu not wanting to loose his momentum continued on. "Naruto will need my help if you don't want him running around with fox ears and a bushy tail in six or seven years from now... I want to be there to help him grow and develop. Please. You in all honesty have my loyalty, I cannot leave a child whom I have grown so attached to behind like you would wish. Plus It can't ever hurt to have an extra S-Class nin around can it?" Sarutobi was willing to weigh his options here, this man was being more than forthcoming with all of his intelligence. Even after tonight's revelation he still couldn't think of a single occasion that the man hadn't gone out of his way to make the blonde smile. Then on top of that there was the tactical and reputation advantage of having a dragon allied to Konoha, after all they were legendary beings. But what he couldn't wrap his mind around was how easily Jiraiya had beaten him, even if the sealing did take a huge toll on him.

"What is your true strength and level of power Ryuunosuke?" Demanded the elderly Hokage. Ryu grinned knowing things were starting to swing in his favor. "In terms of raw power and chakra? I hold about as much as the six tails does. In terms of current skill and combat strength. I'll admit, high A-class or low S-class. I know several S-class justsu. My combat speciality is hand to hand and long range wide area destructive justsu. I was once far stronger than this, and thus relied more on my near infinite chakra than real skill. But I had to pay a hefty toll to cross over into this plane of existance, against the will of many, in order to search for my love. In fact until about ten years ago I was in a coma like state of hibernation. That's why its taken me so long to make a move."

Sarutobi was seriously considering keeping Ryu with Naruto at this point, but he still had his doubts and Jiraiya was definitely not alright with keeping him around. Jiraiya was about to protest when they heard shouts from the hall and a young blonde burst in through the door, panting, staring wide eyed at the scene in front of him. Ryu looked at Naruto with sad, soft eyes, cursing himself for not having a chance to change back into his human form before the boy could see him. "Wha- Whats going on in here!? Where's Ry-" Naruto was cut off as his eyes met those of the strange creature that was tied up and he felt something so familiar click inside of him. "Da... Dad?" Naruto asked tentatively. Ryu grinned at the boy and tilted his head awkwardly. "Yea... I guess everything didn't quite go as planned did it?" Naruto shook his head fast in worry and asked, "Did you save her!? Did you save your precious person? Is she going to be ok?" Ryu smiled gently and closed his eyes. "Yes... Yes Naruto I did. Thank you so much for helping me. I don't think it will be possible for me to take you out to Ichiraku's later seeing as the Hokage and Jiraiya here are pretty upset with me about the whole thing."

Naruto looked up at Sarutobi and Jiraiya before he ran over to Ryu's side and stood between him and them. "Naruto..." Sarutobi began, but was cut off by the blonde. "No! You can't punish him Jiisan! He was just trying to save someone precious to him! He did the same thing you would do!" Sarutobi stopped and even Jiraiya looked away. Ryu was surprised at Naruto's rigid defense but accepted it quietly. Finally after a long moment of silence Sarutobi let out a long sigh and looked up to Naruto and Ryu. "Very well Ryuunosuke. You and Naruto may go home now. I expect a report in the morning Ryuunosuke, henge before you leave. Cat, untie our guest and see them out. Everything seen and spoken of here is now an S-class secret." The mentioned Anbu began doing as she was told and Jiraiya was about to protest before he was silenced by a sharp glare from Sarutobi.

The silence of the teacher student stare down was broken as Ryu finished a long set of hand seals and said, "Full containment!" And with a cloud of smoke he was transformed back into his human self, his clothes repaired. Ryu looked down at Naruto and ruffled his hair playfully. "C'mon little guy. We got a lot to talk about." And with that the two headed out of the office and towards Ichiraku's ramen stand.

Once they had left Jiraiya looked at Sarutobi and said "Do you really think that was the wisest course of action?" Sarutobi looked back at Jiraiya and gave him a low reply. "If nothing else, I believe that he cares for Naruto. Besides that he's to valuable to just throw away." Jiraiya didn't like the truth in those words and leapt out of the Hokage towers window and went off to sort his thoughts.

-Later That Night At A Hotel-

Ryu looked at the sleeping tucked in form of Naruto and grinned from his chair in the corner. The hyperactive little guy could be surprisingly serious if the situation called for it. He had taken all of the news about everything that happened quite well all things considered. More than anything he was worried if they were going to take him away from Ryu. "Well you certainly weren't a part of the plan, but I guess I'm stuck with you now eh? I certainly look forward to watching your story unfold little guy..." Ryo thought with a mental chuckle.

Ryu left the room and closed the door behind him softly before sitting cross legged in his bed and began to meditate. After clearing his thoughts and focusing for a while Ryu reached out to the pendant around his neck. "Kirana?" He asked tentatively.


	3. 3: Pranks

Thanks for the support and the reviews guys! I'm still kind of new on how this site works so I'm having some issues with things not setting in italic or bold when i submit things so bare with me here. Suggestions and pointers are always welcome.

I added a few paragraphs onto the end of this one, going a little bit into Ryu and Kyuubi's story, I will elaborate more in the future.

It had been another year since the incident with the sealing and Naruto and Ryu were settled back down in their apartment. Naruto loved spending time with Ryu, and Ryu was more than happy to entertain the blonde. Things had gone rather smoothly in all respects, during his debriefing with the Hokage Ryu had been promoted to Jonin pending promotion to Elite Jonin. Everything that had happened the night of the seal transfer had been covered up under the guise of a training regimen designed to test the village security and readiness, however, this did not stop the rumors that a dragon had allied itself with Konoha. The council wanted answers and Ryu found himself being watched by ROOT members on a regular basis. On top of all that there was an influx of 'traders' from far away lands, no doubt here to investigate said rumors. But the most troubling events that had occurred was the fact that Ryu and Naruto had started an unofficial prank war with each other and things were getting quite heated, to the point where other people were getting caught in the crossfire.

Yawning, Ryu opened the kitchen pantry to find himself his coffee for the day, and in his groggy state, coupled with the lax state that his security seals on his home put him in, the sound of a metal pin clinking to the ground did not fully register, that is until his entire face and head was coated in bubble gum pink goo. Blinking at the sudden taste, smell, and sight of the goo Ryu just stood there, for a long moment, hand still on the cabinet door. His blank stare was interrupted by a voice in his head, _"The kit is starting to get good at this. I remember it took me almost a year to get you that good..." _Giggled Kirana in his thoughts. Shaking his head and muttering something about revenge and how nothing seems to be sacred anymore Ryu began to clean his face off.

Meanwhile Naruto giggled from his hiding spot inside of the oven, peering out through the glass window in the door, but was cut short when it started to get warm suddenly and he was forced to make a hasty haphazard exit, falling in a heap on the floor. Looking up at a grinning Ryu the blonde grinned right back, rubbing his head sheepishly. "Oh hey dad... Why's your hair pink?" he asked.

Ryu rolled his eyes and picked up the boy and gave him a hug. "Morning little guy. Your little prank was perfect, except you forgot one little detail. You forgot about collateral damage." Said Ryu as he pointed to the open cabinet. Naruto looked at Ryu confused before he looking at the cabinet and realizing the depth of his folly. All of his precious ramen had been ruined by the pink goo. Grabbing his head and shouting out in terror, "NOOOO!" Ryu laughed and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Well Naruto I have a long mission today, I will be gone for a few days. So please, don't burn the house down, no explosions without me around to watch, and practice your controll exercises. You know its important."

Naruto shook his head latched onto Ryu. Ryu sighed, Naruto hated it whenever he was left alone. He was about to try and comfort the boy when Kirana spoke in his mind. _"Leave me with the kit, I'll keep him company while your away..." _Ryu frowned. While Naruto knew of Kirana and had spoke with her on several occasions, Ryu was extremely reluctant to let his pendant, which held her soul, leave his sight. _"Your a big boy Ryu, you'll live. But he needs someone to look out for him, lest we have a repeat of the time he got into your explosive tags?" _Ryu shuddered at the thought, training ground 28 was still unusable. "Fine, but if anything happens to you..." Ryu said as he moved to take the necklace off, her reply was to simply give him a warm comforting sensation.

"Naruto, come here." Hearing the seriousness in Ryu's voice, Naruto snapped to. Ryu grinned, a little nervously, before he place the pendant around Naruto's neck and tucked it into his shirt. "I'm going to leave Kirana with you, so your not alone. Make sure you keep her safe, and don't let anyone see you with this on ok?" Naruto looked surprised but then smirked and proclaimed to Ryu, "Don't worry dad! I'll protect her with my life! Believe it!" Satisfied with the attitude taken, Ryu gave Naruto a warm hug and headed to the door, shooting Naruto a wave and a smile before heading out.

Naruto stared at the door for a moment before sighing and going to the living room, which had become the unofficial dojo of the house and sat down cross legged. Pulling out a glass sphere he stared at it with anger. It was a small glass marble with a single red dot, and inside of it was a smaller marble with another red dot, and finally there was one last marble inside of that one. He was supposed to suspend it in his palm using only chakra, then make every sphere rotate in a different direction. It was designed to help his chakra control but for the life of him he couldn't get it to work. The most he had ever done was when he was really angry with the sphere and frustrated he had shot it out of his hand and into a wall. Ryu had simply smiled and said it was progress.

After meditating for almost four hours Naruto still hadn't accomplished much. He could feel his chakra for sure, but it was like trying to hold onto a river. He would either use too much and it would fly out of his hand, or he couldn't get anything to happen at all. Drooping his shoulders in defeat he sighed. "Man... this is never going to work. No one ever said being a ninja was so hard..." He said, not really meaning he would give up, but rather that he was frustrated.

Thats when Kirana spoke up. _"Oh hush kit. Your making decent progress, all things considered. I'm surprised you can make it move at all." _Naruto grunted and put his hand behind his head and flopped onto his back. "Still... It's just so boring..." He commented, his short attention span getting the better of him. With a mental grin Kirana spoke up. _"Well I have some ideas for some pranks we could pull to cause some chaos if you want..." _Her words were smooth and silky, and her tone enticing, and Naruto grinned. "What kind of ideas?"

-Anbu Headquarters-

Cat eyed up the delivery man approaching and nodded. The same man, same aura, same boring guard duty. "Hello mam, I have your usual water shipment here for you." Said the delivery man as he motioned towards the large cart stacked high with bottles of water. "Yeah yeah, just place it around back in the storage warehouse like always." Replied Cat as she waved the man off. The man nodded with a polite smile and moved the cart back into the large store room where he left it after having the supply officer sign for the papers.

Later on after everyone had gone home except for a few die hard workaholics and the usual guard, Naruto dug his way out of the mountain of water bottles he had been hiding in. _"Alright kit, now find the reserve tank, where all the fire sprinkler pipes lead too."_ Kirana directed. It took Naruto quite a bit of sketchy surveying, greatly helped by Kirana acting as a sensor for him and pointing out guards, and masking his chakra, before he finially found the huge water tank. Grinning like a madman he took out the storage scroll he took from Ryu's closest and unsealed the massive bag of grow crystals. Normally they werejust a novelty item, but add chakra into anything your sure to get, _interesting_, results.

Climbing on top of the tank and opening up the large cover with a great deal of effort, Naruto emptied the entire bag into the tank. Enacting the next phase of his plan, Naruto set a piece of paper on fire and help it up to the sprinkler until it triggered all of them to go off. Alarms and curses could be heard all around as Naruto rushed as fast as he could back to the water tank.

_"Now this is kind of like the chakra exercise, but transfer as much as you can into water." _Kirana instructed. Doing as he was told, and Kirana acting as a mediator, making sure he didn't over do it, he pushed as much as he could into it, which in all honesty, was nothing to scoff at. Panting a little, and his mission complete, Naruto followed Kirana's instructions to the letter and dodged and ducked and snuck his way out of the Anbu Headquarters and back into the night.

Cat couldn't believe this. Someone had poured chakra enhanced grow crystals into the fire sprinklers, and even after it had been turned off, the damage was done, and they simply couldn't clean it up fast enough. In the matter of an hour every inch of the building that hadn't been cleaned up by water jutsus had a thin sheet of ever growing crystals. Doors were sealed, floors were impossibly sharp, and everything not in a filing cabinet was ruined. The entire building looked like the wizard of oz's castle and everyone at Anbu had been one upped. Cat swore on her sword she would get whoever the hell had done this.

-Back At Naruto's-

Naruto rolled in his laughter at how many ninja were running around. Watching his window he could see Anbu everywhere, trying to find the culprit behind the crystalizing of their headquarters. He couldn't help but laugh at it. He had pulled his greatest prank ever and he hadn't even been caught! "I can't wait to tell Dad what I did!" Naruto yelled out through his laughter. "Tell him what exactly? Naruto?" Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin and tripped over a chair trying to escape the sudden voice that startled him. Turning around to see who it was Naruto paled. It was none other than the creepy cat mask lady. She had gotten to know Ryu since the night of the seal transfer, seeing as she had spent a month following him around, on orders to try and gauge his skills. Ryu and her actually hit it off pretty well and would often spar, him with his cross spear, and her with her katana. However Naruto had completely forgotten how she would often come over to check on him while Ryu was away... and now he was afraid for his life.

But as luck would have it, as Cat stepped forward while cracking her knuckles, she stepped on a pressure pad under the rug, one of Naruto's many traps from earlier he had set for Ryu. Cat was promptly met with a gooey peanut butter explosion from the roof, followed up with confetti, which stuck to her. Shaking in rage, she screamed, "NAAARRRRUUUTTTOOO!" But he was already gone, running at unnatural speeds for a seven year old.

-Konoha-

Naruto was hiding in a trash can, peering out wearily, and Kirana was laughing her ass off. This was getting good, the little kit really had gotten that cat masked woman good, and now he had the entirety of the Anbu force after him. They were hell bent on bringing him to the Hokage and she was dragging out the whole thing by masking Naruto's chakra signature. "Hey... Uhm.. Kirana?" Naruto asked tentatively. _"Yes kit?"_ she replied. "How long until dad is home?" Kirana snickered. _"Probably around four days." _"Oh." Said Naruto, his stomach sinking.

Just then a rustling in the bags near him made him jump out of the trash can and create a ruckus out of being startled. Naruto regained his composure and edged towards the spot in the bags where the noise came from, only to find a stray cat rustling through the trash. "Whew... I was worried there." Naruto sighed. "You should be." Said a cold voice from behind. Naruto stiffened and slowly turned around. A soaking wet Cat Anbu was behind him. Apparently she had used a water jutsu to clean herself off and she was pissed. Backing up and putting his hands up Naruto spoke, "Now now... No need to be hasty!" Thats when things got even worse, as he backed up he stepped on the cats tail, which proceeded to attempt to maul him. Cat watched, rather enthused, until Naruto managed to toss the feline, who happened to be Tora, right into Cats face. Struggling to subdue the insane feline, Cat failed to notice Naruto escaping her clutches just barely again.

Naruto was freaking out now trying to figure out what to do, and while Kirana was masking his presence from the Anbu sensors, she wouldn't help him otherwise, insisting it was good training. Running through the woods now, not wanting to stop, he failed to notice the young pale eyed girl on the ground until he tripped over her. "Owww! Hey what are you doing laying on the ground in the woods!?" Naruto asked her rubbing his head where he had hit it on the ground. She stared at him wide eyed from her position on the ground and was trying to think of how to reply before one of the three boys Naruto failed to notice yelled at him.

"Get out of the way punk! We got business with her!" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the older boys that were towering over the ruffed up little girl. "Really? And what would that be?" Naruto replied, forgetting his current problems and wanting to help. His attention span really could use some work. "None of your business! Now get out of the way or else!" yelled the leader of the group as he punched his open palm threateningly. "Make me!" Yelled Naruto in defiance, he hated bullies, and he wouldn't just stand by and let them bully this girl.

The boys started to laugh at Naruto, that was until the leader caught a fist to his face. The other two instantly jumping Naruto in defense of their leader tackled Naruto. Through a lucky flail Naruto caught one of them in the balls with his foot and locked arms with the other. As they rolled around in the dirt Naruto in his desperation headbutted the boy until he let go of Naruto's arms to hold his face. Naruto started punching him over and over yelling "LEAVE HER ALONE YOU JERKS!" Naruto was suddenly grabbed by his collar and pulled off the boy. He looked up to see none other than the Cat masked Anbu woman holding onto him. In all honesty this was for the best because the other two boys had recovered and were up, meaning Naruto was more than likely about to loose his fight.

Looking at the other boys Cat let out a little of her killing intent and ordered simply; "Leave." They ran off terrified, Leaving Naruto alone with Cat and the young girl. Cat dropped Naruto on his rear and pulled her pack off her back. "Naruto. Your an idiot." She stated simply as she dug through her pack. Naruto was about to reply when he was suddenly assaulted with coils of rope, insuring his capture and eliminating any chance of escape on his part.

Finishing up her knots and making sure that they were all doubly secure Cat turned to the young girl. "Lady Hinata, It would be best if you returned home now." Hinata Nodded and turned to leave but stopped and looked at the blonde tied up, "Uhm... T-thank you f-for helping me... I... I'm Hinata." And with that she bowed very modestly and ran off, her head down. Naruto yelled after her, "No problem! I'm Naruto by the way!" Hinata managed a friendly backwards wave, just barely, as she headed home. "Brat your in so much shit." Cat stated, Naruto could feel her glare through the mask. "On a scale of one too ten?" He asked sheepishly. "I'd say your at about 12." Was her reply.

-Hokage Tower-

Sarutobi had just finished listening to Cats report with a tied up Naruto sitting in the guest chair. "So your saying. That a seven year old boy, infiltrated Anbu Headquarters, remained undetected for several hours until the main work force had left, sabotaged nearly the entire facility, then evaded capture by from numerous Anbu, including yourself, for another hour or so until he was caught by you because he stopped to help someone who was being bullied?" Sarutobi asked, his eyes closed, a faint grin marking his features.

"Yes, Lord Hokage." Was Cats reply. Then Cat got a response she wasn't expecting the response that she got next. The Hokage began to laugh and said, "Well done Naruto. Your stealth skills are exemplary, and you have shown me that our Anbu could use an update in security protocal." Cat sweat dropped at this. He wasn't serious was he? "However you simply can't pull pranks of this scale without consequences." Sarutobi continued, growing more serious. "So therefore as punishment you will spend the next three days helping Cat clean up your mess, seeing as shes the front gate sensor type that allowed you to slip in." Cat's eyebrow twitched at that. So she was being punished too, and it was to spend all day every day with the Brat. Great. Naruto on the other hand didn't seem at all too upset and replied, "No problem Gramps! I'll make sure it's as good as new!" After that the two were dismissed, and a rather disgruntled Cat took Naruto home, all the while wondering how the hell she hadn't sensed him in that cart, she scanned it twice!

The next few days went without incident. Naruto spend his days working with Cat to clean up the thin crystal coating that had been liberally applied to the Anbu Headquarters, and his evenings he spent trying to find that nice girl he had helped, hoping she might be his friend. He caught a glimpse of her once or twice, but she had disappeared quicker than he could reach her. He was beginning to worry that she didn't want to be his friend like all of the other kids, but his fears were lessened by Kirana, who told him that she was probably just shy. The only other thing Naruto really did was work on his chakra control and meditation exercises, which to him, were more torturous than chipping the crystals off of the walls of Anbu HQ.

Then finally, Late on the Fourth day Ryu returned home. After giving the Hokage his debriefing Ryu headed home. Sighing happily as he opened the front door, Ryu was more than ready to spend more time talking with Kirana and Naruto, that was until a loud bang signaled him being covered in pink goo again. "Ehhh... Good to be home..." Thought Ryu as he shook his and slumped his shoulders in defeat.

Ryu used a simple Jutsu to clean himself up as he entered his home, overly wary of any other traps that might have been set, and to be honest he was surprised by the lack of them. Working his way through the now messy home, he sighed as he found Naruto passed out on the couch, clutching an unopened ramen packet.

Ryu smiled at the young boy and lifted him up and carried him to his room, setting him gently into his bed. After he had covered him in his blankets he reached down and removed the necklace from Naruto's neck and placed it around his own, relaxing as he felt Kirana's familiar presence. With a sigh of relief he relaxed visibly as he walked out of the room and slowly slid the door closed behind him.

Sitting down on the couch he gently reached out towards her presence and spoke. "So... How was he while I was gone?" Ryu asked, half expecting some horror story or another. Not wanting to disappoint him, Kirana eagerly filled him in on the events of the last few days, leaving Ryu shaking his head in exasperation once she had finished.

Afterwords things were rather quiet for a while, and Kirana couldn't help but feel like something was up with her love. For him she was gentle and comforting. Very, very, few people ever saw this side of her. She was the almighty Kyuubi, and she had an image to maintain, and she would even admit to a time when she cared for little other than war and destruction. It was in her nature, to cause chaos, destruction, and mayhem. That was until she had tempted the short tempers of the dragons and he had been sent to... deal with her.

Never in her entire life had she been so pressed in a fight. She underestimated him from the very start of the fight, something that had almost gotten her killed immediately. She knew dragons were fierce, but he was on an entire other level. She then tried to simply out do him in terms of raw power, bringing to bear her full nine tails of power. He matched her, easily, then even, exceeded her. The destruction that they had wrought across plains was legendary. The two fought for nearly three days straight, entire mountains had been leveled in the brawl. The entire time he had hardly spoken a word. Then as he finially stood victorious, his forepaw pressed heavily against her neck, for the very first time in her existance, she had felt fear. A deep, shaking fear, one that showed her just how helpless she was against him, a great white dragon. A being a true power. She may have been the Queen of Demons, but he, he was the God of War in her eyes.

However, that's when there was a turning point in his emotions, something subtle, that she had not fully registered in his eyes until he spoke. _"Do not trouble our clan again Kitsune, or I will be forced to finish this."_

His words had thoroughly confused her, and left her staring at his slowly retreating form long after he had left her line of sight. She had been entranced by his show of mercy, something unheard of in her realm. Why? Why would he just let her go. He was an oddball, and she was determined to find out why he had let her live. It had led her through a strange tale that almost had its happy ending, but as with everything, it seemed she attracted the greatest of trouble. She had been summoned to the world of man, enslaved, and captured. To this day Ryu had not spoke of how he had made it to the world of humans, but she assumed it wasn't pretty if he was not willing to speak of it, even to her. So she simply comforted him the best she could whenever she could, and as always, he basked in her warmth, immersing himself in that comfort. Ryu sighed and began to talk again, about his mission, letting her relax a bit as his negative thoughts were pushed away. "I just wish he wasn't so afraid to tell me what happened." She thought wistfully.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you all for all of the support and reviews. I honestly only expected maybe one or two people to read this and its really nice to know that people actually like my work! The truth is I'm am writing here to get experience, and have a book I've been writing for the better part of 8 years, since i was 16. I'm using this to explore new ways of writing and further myself as a writer before I can get it published so it can be as refined as possible. But enough rambling, on to the story!

Naruto was eleven years old now and was soon to enroll in the ninja academy. Things had gone exceedingly well for the blonde and his caretaker, his training in chakra suppression and control had progressed quite well, Ryu had reached the rank of special Jonin quite easily, and the two now lived in a decent sized home on the outskirts of Konoha. But to call Ryu just a caretaker was more than likely at this point an understatement, he was also a sensei, a friend, a precious person, and even more so, a "Tousan!" shouted Naruto and he jumped on top of the sleeping man who grumbled incoherently, half asleep.

Ryu sat up, yet another pillow impaled on his horns, due to Naruto's surprise attack. Still groggy he didn't even notice and bleary eyed looked over at Naruto. "Why do you sleep like that Tousan? You ruin so many good pillows and blankets!" Naruto asked as he was pushed off the bed in a heap by a powerful tail. "Because... It's more comfortable then holding a henge in my sleep... aahhhhhh" replied Ryu stretching out with a yawn, exposing rows of razor sharp teeth. Naruto just stared, no matter how often he saw it, it was always a curious sight to him these last few months that Ryu had been less and less inclined to keep his 24/7 front of a human form. Whenever he was in the safety of his home and security seals, he dropped the facade.

"I guess that makes sense, especially with how much you sleep." Naruto absent mindedly commented to Ryu, earning a glare from the man. "Yea and? It's a perk of my kind alright." Ryu said as he got out of bed. "Sure, whatever you say." said Naruto, his hands behind his head as he walked out of the room, secretly wondering is his Tousan was distantly related to the Nara clan.

Arriving in the kitchen Naruto and Ryu found breakfast already made, some biscuits and gravy for Ryu, (a dish Naruto still claimed was weird) and some ramen filled with vegetables for Naruto. Seeing Ryu's shadow clone disperse Naruto couldn't help but wonder when he had managed to do that if he only just woke up. The two ate in relative silence until Ryu asked, "So what are your plans for today Naruto? I hope it's nothing prank related, I'd hate for you to get into trouble the day before you start the academy."

Naruto looked up from his already finished jumbo bowl and grinned, "I'll be hanging out with Hinata-chan today!" Was his enthused response. Ryu grinned. Those two were good for each other. The girls father, Hiashi, had not exactly forbid the girl from spending time with Naruto, but it had become quite clear of his opposition to the relationship. This was because if Naruto ever asked if Hinata could play or hang out, he was met with the response, 'She is preoccupied.' It had really bugged Ryu that the one friend Naruto had made had such a stuck up prude of a father.

So Ryu helped the two along, they hadn't got to hang out often, or for long periods of time, but he made sure they certainly saw enough of each other. It also helped that Naruto had learned how to repress his chakra extremely well. So coupled with the fact that no one short of a Inuzuka, who could smell him, knew he was there ahead of time, and his sharp nose, hearing, and eyesight, made it nearly impossible for the boy to be found out. Hinata would always give the impression that she was meditation or training when located 'alone.' Seeing as her confidence had gotten better since she started spending time with Naruto, no one questioned it. She stuttered a good bit, would blush around Naruto, and was still quite shy, but she could speak her opinion on occasion now, and she was doing better in her training.

"Well I gotta run Tousan! I have to help Hinata ditch her escort!" Said Naruto as he ran over to the door. "Don't be too hard on the guy! He's just doing his job after all!" Shouted Ryu after the blonde just before the door slammed. Shaking his head and praying he would stay out of trouble, Ryu moved to clean up breakfast and get ready for work when Kirana spoke up. _"You know... It's kind of scary."_ Placing the dishes in the sink, Ryu raised an eyebrow at the comment. "What is?" There was a moment of silence before she replied, _"His similarity to us in a few ways. I can understand the pranking and sense of humor he has and how he would've gotten from me, seeing as i was a part of him from birth until he was six... But that die hard loyalty he has for that girl. Well I've only ever known one guy as dedicated."_ With a grin and a chuckle Ryu responded, "Well considering who his real father and mother were its really not suprising from what you've told me about them Kira-kun." Silently thinking to herself Kirana let out a metal sigh and couldnt help but think; _"Still I envy you Ryu, we cannot have children, and he is the closest thing to one we will likely ever have, and I'm stuck like this, a simple disembodied voice..."_

Ko was worried. Over the last few years his job had been extremely taxing. Hinata had the habit of constantly disappearing on him, and he had the habit of falling into numerous, overly planned, yet ingenious, traps created by some unknown force. He would've brought the matter to Hiashi but of all people to blackmail him, it was Hinata. She said it was her way of testing him as a body guard and it wouldn't go over well if Hiashi learned he was falling into such simple traps. While absolutely stunned by her words that day, Ko couldn't help but agree, as well as be suspicious of the claim that she was really the one pulling these stunts.

But Ko was worried now because these little "tests" as Hinata had called them, had a bit of regularity to them, and he was long overdue for one. He looked down from his meditations in time to see Hinata slip around a corner ahead of. Cursing his negligence he ran after her, rounding the corner just in time to barely avoid behind blasted by a bubblegum bomb. Activating his Byakugan he searched around frantically before seeing Hinata on the very fringe of his vision several streets over, moving quickly.

Taking off to pursue them he was stopped in his tracks by a familiar face that had regularly interrupted these little chases of his. "Hi there Ko-san! Loose something?" Asked Ryu, with a ever knowing grin. Ko tried to move past the man, but found the brief distraction had caused him to loose sight of Hinata. Frustrated at his constant failing in his duty, Ko shook his head angrily. How the hell was he supposed to protect someone if they just kept running off every single chance they had?

Turning to Ryu, Ko gave him a scowl that only deepened when it was met by the special Jonin's sly grin. The man was an enigma. Everyone who was a chunnin or higher knew of him. He had gone from a fresh chunnin recruit to special Jonin in only two years. An almost unheard of feat, and one to be very proud of, to be one of the elite of Konoha. And yet, the man was an enigma. He was the adoptive parent of the Kyuubi's container, was known to live a very secretive life, and his mission records were not far from being on par with one of the Sannin. Several women had asked him out but were all turned away, him saying he was already spoken for, but he had never once been seen with a woman. He had never been seen at a bar or any social gathering place when not required, and would turn down sparring requests from just about everyone. But worst of all the man would always ask the most maddening and obscene questions, ones that defied logic and left many around him confused, as well as did things that seemed to have no true purpose. Ko once witnessed the man stare at a brick wall for almost ten minutes before Ryu used a jutsu to swap two of the bricks in it and walking off. The man made no logical sense. Nodding at the strange Jonin Ko merely stated, "Ryu-san." Before heading off to try and find Lady Hinata.

-With Naruto and Hinata-

Naruto and Hinata were seated upon Naruto's favorite spot in the village, the top of the Fourth Hokage's head. They were eating a lunch packed and prepared by Hinata. The two were quiet for a long while. They had spent the last few hours switching up between just hanging out, wondering through the village, and just talking. But now things were quiet, as a recent sight had set Naruto's train of though off on a quest.

_-Flashback-_

_Naruto and Hinata were heading towards the monument when Naruto realized he had left his his gift for Hinata at the house, Naruto had told her to go on ahead without him and he would catch up. Upon reaching his home, which hadn't been too far off, Naruto snuck in quietly, thinking that Tousan might be asleep again, only to see Ryu seemingly lost in thought, staring out a window at nothing. He didn't notice Naruto, so the blonde just kept a low profile and headed to his room to retrieve his gift for Hinata. On the way back out of his room, Naruto was stopped by Ryu, who was standing there with that ever present grin that he held. "Hey Naruto, I just got briefed for an S-Rank mission, so I'll be gone for some time, starting first thing in the morning. I'm sorry that I won't be there for your first day tomorrow." Naruto smiled at Ryu and gave him a strong hug. "Don't worry about it Tousan! I'll be alright!" Ryu smiled warmly and ruffled Naruto's hair a bit and said four words that really shook the boy up. "Love ya little guy." And with a wave Ryu left through the front door, leaving Naruto with his thoughts._

_-End Flashback-_

Naruto was quiet, and this was because no one had ever told him they loved him before. Sure him and Ryu were as close as could be, but Tousan always seemed to try to avoid building bridges to fast, rather always wanting to let the other person build the bridge first. Naruto was jolted out of his thoughts by a worried Hinata, "Uhm... Na... Naruto-kun? Are you... Are you alright?" She asked Shyly, not wanting to pry in his business, but really rather worried by the usually loud blondes silent demeanor. Grabbing the back of his head Naruto replied, "Yea! I just had some things on my mind was all, it's nothing bad, so don't worry about it Hinata-chan! Oh yeah!" Naruto began to dig through his coat for his gift, and pulling it out and presenting it to Hinata. "I totally forgot your birthday present Hinata-chan! And I'm so sorry! But none the less here you are! I know It was a few days ago, but I couldn't get a moment to give it to you..." Hinata looked at her gift to him, It was small, inconspicuous, and most of all beautiful. It was a small fox statue, painted a gleaming gold, that matched Naruto's hair to the exact shade, and the thing had the warmest goofy smile one could have on it.

After Hinata picked up the gift, blushing and with stars in her eyes, Naruto explained. "You always say your the happiest when we get to hang out, so... I figured I'd give you something to remind you of all the times we get together, and all the laughs!" Hinata was absolutely beaming at Naruto now, her face crimson, and she said, "Thank you so... so much! I love it!" She proclaimed to the boy. Naruto, getting worked up in the moment, glad he had made his only friend happy, gave Hinata a rough one armed hug. "No problem Hinata-chan! Anything for you! Huh? Hinata? You okay?" The poor girl was passed out again and the blonde was confused, then realizing their position sweat dropped. How the hell was he supposed to get her down from up here!?

-Later That Night, At Home-

Naruto entered the house, glad he got to spend a full day with his best and only friend, to find Ryu sitting at the kitchen table controlling a few orbs of light around absent mindedly. Naruto suddenly remembered earlier events and nervously approached him. "Uhm Tousan?" He asked, fidgeting. "Hmm? What is it Naru-chan?" Asked Ryu, turning his attention to the blonde. "Well I've been thinking about earlier... and... well..." Ryu waited paitently for the fidgeting boy to gather up his words, his warm honest smile never fading, "What does love mean?" Naruto suddenly blurted out.

Ryu was caught off guard by the question, but was honestly rather upset at how truly foriegn the boy felt about the word. Folding his arms and leaning back in his chair Ryu gathered his thoughts. Taking in a deep breath and looking down at an expectant Naruto, Ryu began, "Well there's a lot of different kind of loves Naruto. There's love for friends, for family, love for country, and true love for someone very special. But no matter what it is that you love, if you love it, it means that it is extremely precious to you, and you would do anything and everything to keep it, or them, safe, in all practicality loving something means it, or they, hold an extremely special place in your heart." Finished Ryu, kneeling down and giving the blonde a hug.

Naruto nodded in understanding, for the most part, but one part of his speech left Naruto with another question. "Tousan, What do you mean by true love for someone very special?" He asked. Ryu blinked and then replied, "Like how I love Kira-kun Naruto. I love her and you both, and equally, but me and her share a different and very special bond that is hard to explain, and honestly a lot of people think they get that kind of special bond, but never do. It's very hard to find the right match." Naruto nodded then asked, "Well explain it to me so that I don't get it wrong!"

Ryu sweat dropped. The little guy never would let him off easy when he wanted answers. "Well... There was a time or two before I met Kira-kun that I thought I had that special bond, but I didn't though. Through Kira-kun I learned that it isn't gazing into someone else's eyes for ages on end, no its when her eyes search your face constantly with an awestruck smile... because she is engraving your image into her mind every time you hold her, so she will never forget... It isn't having to change and adapt for someone, It's that person holding a hand on your cheek with a smile and a tear telling you that you're perfect exactly the way you are. It isn't laying awake wondering what they're doing where ever they are... It's falling asleep as fast as you can so you can meet them in your dreams... That's as best as I can explain it Naru-chan." Ryu finished. Naruto shook his head, now thoroughly confused. "I don't understand Tousan..." Giving Naruto a hug Ryu simply said, "You will some day."

-The Next Day-

Naruto Had woken up early, hoping to catch Ryu before he left, but only found a note telling him that to behave and he would return in a few days, as well as several lunches prepacked in the fridge. Upon returning to his room and opening his closet, a second surprise met the boys eyes. A new outfit with another note. _"If you're going to train to be a ninja, you had better dress like one."_ The outfit consisted of a black long sleeve shirt, Black cargo pants, black ninja sandals, and vest like Ryu's, except his was swirls of golden yellow and sky blue. Putting the uniform on and applying the goggles that Hinata had given him Naruto checked it out in the mirror. He found the lack of orange distasteful, but found he did look kinda cool. Grabbing his lunch and running out the front door, Naruto couldn't wait too get to class and meet up with Hinata, and if he was lucky make some new friends!

Once again, I hope you all enjoy! Suggestions and reviews always welcome! I must go now, for my gecko's are doing there food begging dance!


	5. Chapter 5

And here we are! The next chapter! Thanks for the reviews and tips and suggestions everyone. Remember, all idea's are welcome, If your idea is better than mine for the story, then it is!

Things had played out rather well for Naruto, with his gift to the Hyuga, and his apology, Hiashi had revised his point of view on the blonde. Hinata was placed back into her original class, however, she still had two body gaurds from the branch house at all times. Especially when she was spending time with Naruto. It seemed Hiashi had the same concerns as every father.

Things had progressed quickly, and the school year was coming to an end. The exams were the very next day and the teams were soon to be chosen. Naruto had been hoping beyond hope to be put on a team with Hinata, and she had the same thoughts. However, what neither really thought of, was who their third team mate would be. While they were friendly with a number of people, no one really stuck out. Oh well they would know when they knew, was the conjoined thought of the two.

It was late in the evening and Ryu was helping Naruto meditate, something that the boy had truly hated with every fiber of his being. With an aggravated grumble Naruto burst out, "What is the point of doing this all the time! I don't get what the point is!" Ryu sighed. He had explained this a dozen or so times to Naruto as to why it was so important, but he guessed he would have to show him.

"Naruto. Do you remember the tree at the park, where Hiashi caught you and Hinata?" Ryu asked. Naruto thought for a long moment, his face twisted with effort. "No... I don't remember much of that evening, except that I was really upset, and angry." Ryu nodded at his reply. "Chakra, of any form, is respondent to emotion. Demonic chakra, which you have a near infinite supply of, is respondent to negative emotion. While being upset or angry is a good way to bring it out, it is not a very controllable way to do so. Therefore we meditate. So that you can sense and control it outside of severe emotional outbreaks, that can get you killed." He explained.

Naruto nodded in understanding, and Ryu continued, "Now when Hiashi left with Hinata, you were extremely upset, and weather you realized it or not your youkai surged. It may have clouded your mind a bit, but you accessed that power. And with it, you snapped a full grown tree in half like it was a twig." Naruto's eyes widened a bit at the revelation. "What really!? If it was that easy when I was mad-" Naruto's outburst was cut off by Ryu. "This is not an acceptable way to use this power. It is not how Kirana used it, and not how you will use it. It will require extreme amounts of emotional control Naruto. Now I'm not saying that you become numb, but you must learn to control the negative ones, emotions that would consume you with the help of the youkai, leaving you as someone none of us could recognize."

Naruto looked a little put out by that but he agreed with Ryu, he didn't want to become a monster like everyone had said he was. Ryu ruffled Naruto's hair a bit with a warm smile. "Now. I want you to focus on how you felt that day. Bring those emotions back, but only long enough to feel the change in chakra. Then think of something that makes you happy, but try your best to hold onto the foreign chakra." He instructed.

Nodding, our blonde hero focused as best he could. Ryu saw the changes. His hands slowly became fists, and shook ever so slightly. The youkai, slowly creeped forth, and Ryu could sense the faintest of red aura's around the boy. Naruto stayed that way for a long time, and Ryu was about to intervene when he felt the mood change, Naruto relaxed, and the aura took a slightly orange hue for a split second, before Naruto fell flat on his face.

Quickly sitting Naruto back up and checking to see if he was alright Ryu did a quick scan, to find that Naruto was suddenly quite worn out. Ryu waved a smelling salt under Naruto's nose and the blonde woke up violently and smashed Ryu in the face on instinct. "GAAHHHH! MY FACE IS ON FIRE!" Shouted Naruto, his eyes sealed shut while watering and nose running like a waterfall while he gagged a bit.

Ryu frowned. That was too violent of a reaction. The salts weren't that strong. Ryu buried the smelling salt and helped Naruto wash his face, mouth, and eyes out with his canteen. Naruto looked up and Ryu, and still gasping a little, "Gahhh... Tousan... That sucked..." Naruto managed. However Ryu had not responded, his eyes were a little wide and he was lost in thought. "Uhmmm... Tousan? Whats wrong?" Naruto asked. "Shit." Was his only reply.

Ryu stared, fixated on Naruto's blue eyes. They were that same ever enchanting blue color, but the pupils... They were not. They were now slitted, without so much of a hint of youkai running through the boy. _"You knew this was bound to happen at some point."_ Kirana remarked, snapping him out of his trance. _"Yea but I was hoping that it would be much later..."_ Ryu replied.

Ryu's mind then raced for a second and he grabbed Naruto and pushed the boys blonde hair around and was relieved when he didn't find anything. _"I don't see why your so worried, it's really just a sign of him taking the first steps to controlling his power. I might have to start special lessons with him soon..."_ Remarked Kirana. "TOUSAN! What the heck are you doing!?" Naruto shouted pushing Ryu's hand off his head.

It was Ryu's turn to be sheepish, rubbing the back of his own head, a habit acquired from Naruto, Ryu pulled a tiny mirror out of his pocket and handed it to Naruto. Naruto looked at the mirror and his eyes looked like they were bulging harder than a shocked Hyuga using the Byakugan. Naruto was quietly staring at at his reflection for a long moment before Ryu placed a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto?" He asked softly.

Naruto's shoulders slumped a bit. "Yea Tousan?" He asked, his voice a bit apprehensive. Ryu gave him an understanding look, knowing Naruto was afraid of what people would say about this. "We can apply a genjutsu over it later. Its a very small change, so you won't even notice its chakra drain, alright?" Naruto nodded and Ryu grinned at him. "Alright. You seem to have gotten a minor handle on what needs to be done here. Lets go discuss it over ramen, my treat?" He asked, knowing it would cheer Naruto up. Just as he expected, Naruto took off with a whoop in the direction of the ramen stand, not bothering to see if Ryu was following or not. Chuckling at how simple of a creature Naruto could be at times, Ryu took off after him, he still needed to place the genjutsu before anyone saw.

-The Next Morning At Naruto's-

Ryu was having the warmest of dreams, It was peaceful, quiet, save for a soft rumbling of a daytime rain. He was in a hammock under some trees, shielded from the rain by some interlocked branches. But more than anything he was warm. He felt, like someone had wrapped the softest of heated blankets around him. It was something he never wanted to wake from, it was all just so peaceful.

But things could not be as such. "Ryu-kun..." Rang a familiar voice in his ears. He gave no reply, hoping that they would just go away. "Come on Ryu-kun, wake up..." Said the voice, and this time he felt the warmth shift, and felt a pair of lips planted upon his. His eyes shot open and he saw the thing he had missed most in his life staring back him. Those beautiful crimson eyes... Kirana pulled back from her kiss with a satisfied smile, then poofed out of existence, and he heard her speak in his mind. _"That was... Absolutely exhausting..."_ She managed.

Ryu felt better than he had in a long time. He didn't even need ask how or why, he knew. She was beginning to get a serious hold on her power again. "How long can you hold a solid body?" He asked her quickly. _"Five, maybe ten minutes a day at best..."_ Was her reply. That would not do. That wasn't nearly enough time for a proper reunion.

Both of their thoughts were brushed aside as Naruto made his usual morning assault on Ryu. Flying in and hurling a pillow at Ryu, Naurto shouted, "C'mon Tousan! Get up! It's exam day!" Shouted Naruto. Ryu had promised Naruto since the exams usually only took a couple of hours, that he would spend the day there at the academy, and once Naruto had graduated, take Naruto out for anything he had wanted, which Ryu was really expecting to be just some more ramen. He didn't know just how wrong he was.

-Later At The Academy-

Everyone, Naruto included, had passed all other parts of the exam. All that was left was the practical portion, where Iruka, or another instructor would test them in combat. Anything was aloud, although killing was strictly forbidden. Naruto had come solidly in second place, only behind Sasuke. Even if Naruto completely dominated this portion, which he was sure he would, he would be firmly in second. Something that really didn't bother Naruto, but Sasuke had seemed overly proud of talking about loudly so that Naruto could hear.

Stepping into the ring once his name was called, Naruto couldn't help but be excited. He wanted to see how well he could do against a real ninja. Sure he had battled with Ryu on many occasions, but that was different, as in his eyes no one but the Hokage had even a chance of beating Ryu in his eyes. Getting into his relaxed fighting stance, Naruto's opponent Mizuki, told him that he could start.

Naruto wasted no time and rushed forward, and jumped to drop kick Mizuki in the chest, Mizuki blocked, but was surprised to find no force behind the kick. Instead, Naruto did a sort of a crouch landing on the Chunin's chest and put his momentum into a hay maker which Mizuki barely dodged, before Naruto pushed off of him setting his balance off. Landing on all fours, Naruto rushed forward instantly and left himself seemingly wide open as he went to throw a punch into Mizuki's gut.

Taking the opening, Mizuki threw a punch at Naruto's face, who simply went limp at his knee's and leaned back, using his built momentum to throw a kick, right into Mizuki's groin. Mizuki instantly doubled over and caught the other foot to his face. The blows weren't strong enough to cause serious damage to the chunin, but they were enough to piss him off.

Mizuki flipped back several times to grain some distance before tossing blunt kunai at Naruto with enough force to cause serious harm if Naruto took one to the head. Naruto backed up rapidly, dodging most with some effort, and actually catching a couple and using the energy they already had to twist around and send them back at Mizuki with minimal effort.

Mizuki blocked the kunai sent his way with relative ease and was surprised to see Naruto making a hand seal before the blonde shouted, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and with a poof there were five Naruto's who all began tossing kunai every which way. Most were poorly aimed and the rest were easily blocked. Mizuki was about to laugh when Iruka called the match, confusing him.

Seeing the look of confusion in his eyes Iruka explained. "Look at the kunai. They all have explosive tags on the handles. He could have blasted you and half the courtyard apart." Naruto was grinning like the devil and Mizuki was insisting he could have used a substitution to get out of it if he had to, but regardless Naruto had passed the test with flying colors.

After receiving his headband from Iruka who gave him a pat on the shoulder and a grin, Naruto shouted out in joy. "Alright! One step closer to Hokage!" Alot of people snickered at the comment. But Naruto notice, as he was way to happy with his success as they were ushered back into the classroom to have final notes put out before they were released to their parents.

Ryu saw Naruto approaching him after watching the blonde say goodbye to Hinata. He smiled proudly at the headband Naruto was wearing and grabbed the boy in a headlock and tousled his hair about. Today was a good day. "I see you passed, great job Naru-kun." Said Ryu with a warm smile as he released Naruto from the headlock.

"Awww c'mon, did you expect anything less?" Naruto asked with a big smile. Ryu shook his head. "Not at all. In fact I brought extra money for your ramen feast I'm sure you want." Naruto grinned like a fox that just ate a chicken. "C'mon Tousan, ramen isn't all I think about. I can have that any time, and you said that I could have anything that I wanted! So I want a new jutsu!" Demanded the blonde.

Ryu sweat dropped. He had promised him anything within reason, and that was well within those parameters. The thing was, even though he was a dragon, he didn't have many techniques that he could teach the boy because like a Bijuu, most of his attacks and styles relied on the manipulation of pure chakra, rather than true techniques. Besides most of the one he did know were not suited to the blonde at all. "Uhmmm..." Ryu said as he put his hand to his head. Naruto pouted. "TOUSAN! You promised!"

Ryu was nervous for a moment before he finally thought of something. "Oh! I've got it! Yeah that will work. Come on Naruto, knowing you, you'll want to start now I'm geussing?" Ryu said to the now estatic blonde. "Yeah! Lets go!" Yelled Naruto as he ran off too their usual training ground. In his head Ryu heard a voice, sly and curious. _"Did you give him those chakra balls, as not just a way to get better, but knowing his shit control, that you wouldn't have to teach him any jutsu before he got a sensei?"_ Kirana asked. _"Heh... Maybe?"_ Was Ryu's reply.

-At The Training Ground-

Naruto was basically bouncing around at the thought of a cool new jutsu. It took some effort and a small explosion, but Ryu finally got Naruto's attention back to the task on hand. "Alright Naruto, this jutsu is extremely similar to your shadow clone jutsu. It's purpose is to exponentially increase the number of thrown weapons heading towards an enemy. Like so." Ryu tossed a single shuriken, and with a shout of "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" one became a hundred. Ryu showed Naruto the extra hand seals required, and explained it a bit more before handing Naruto a dull shuriken.

"Now you try. Remember, this is a little more about control than raw power, so don't over do it." Ryu instructed to Naruto. Naruto shook his head in response and tossed the shuriken without a second thought. Preforming the handseals and shouting "Shurkien Shadow Clone Justsu!" Naruto got a result that he did not expect at all. He made way to many. Way way too many. In fact Naruto barely got a yell of terror out before the mound of shurkien toppled over on top of him.

"And that's what happens when you try to put too many shuriken in one place. I said not to over do it." Ryu said as he shook his head. The shuriken dispelled with a unconscious Naruto on his back with a single shuriken on his chest. Sighing, Ryu picked the boy up, deciding to just take him home for now as he didn't want to give Naruto another horrid experience of smelling salts because of his high level senses. He could figure out the rest of the jutsu later.

The next day Naruto was out the door before Ryu was even up. He was insanely excited, and nervous, about what team he was going to be out on and who his new sensei was going to be. He really hoped he would be on a team with Hinata, but at the same time he had no clue who would be third member. Ryu had explained to him how teams were built, and he couldn't think of what he would end up doing, and who would compliment his and Hinata's strengths and weaknesses.

Rushing into the classroom Naruto was surprised to see most of the class already there. Apparently he wasn't the only one who was excited to find out who he would be on a team with. Shrugging the thought off he headed up to his seat next to Hinata and picked up a conversation. The students all gossiped and talked, speculating on who would be with who, and the fangirls all argued over who would get to be on Sasuke's team, none more so than Ino and Sakura.

After a while Iruka entered the room and got everyone's attention. "Alright class, as you all know, this is probably the last time you will be seeing me for a while, as you will be getting your teams and sensei's today. I won't keep you in suspense any longer, so here are the match ups." Said Iruka as he pulled his list up. He began to speak, sorting the less memorable of people into their teams until the following teams were made. "Team seven will consist of Saskue Uchiha, (all of the fangirls tensed up in anticipation.) Kiba Inuzuka, and Sakura Haruno." All of the fangirls screamed in disappointment except for Sakura who went on a taunting speech to Ino before Iruka shut them up and continued.

"Team Eight will consist of Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame." Naruto jumped up onto his desk and started yelling a victory chant and Hinata smiled warmly, both happy to be on a team together, but Shino just didn't seem to react at all. Naruto kept dancing around until he caught an eraser to the face from Iruka, who after getting Naruto to shut up announced that team ten would consist of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and much to her disdain, Ino Yamanaka. Various Jonin's entered the room and grabbed up their respective teams until it was only Team Seven and Team Eight left.

Naruto was about to go over and cause some form of trouble with team seven where Kiba was already having issues with an uncaring Sasuke who had some how insulted the Inuzuka boy. But just then a Jonin with brown hair and black eyes entered and addressed the remaining genin. "Team Eight, come with me." Were his only words and he waited for the three of them to follow him out the door. Some time later, after a rather quiet walk to a nondescript park, the Jonin had them sit down on a bench and introduced himself. "Hello. My name Is Yamato, you will refer to me as Yamato-Sensei."

A/N

Alright guys! Hope you enjoyed it! I felt that Yamato made more sense as a teacher for Naruto because of his ability to control Naruto's demonic chakra. You would think that the skeptical clan heads would have requested this anyway. However the team style I guess I'm building is that of a hunter nin squad. Power and tracking ability. Please review and post your thoughts! Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the unusual lapse in the updates guys, but as it is, here's another chapter.

Things had been unusually tense in the village, the source of all this was the rumors flying around about Naruto's adoptive fathers identity. Even though it had been labeled as an A-class secret, words had inevitably gotten out and everyone was talking about it. A dragon was hiding in Konoha and while most ninja saw it's allegiance as a tactical blessing, to have one as powerful as that on their side, many worried why it had taken such a liking to the Kyuubi brat. They felt that it simply sould not spell anything but bad news.

Naruto however didn't notice it much at all. This was for a number of reasons, first and foremost, no one really ever talked to him, or his only friend, Hinata, for that matter. This kept them out of the gossip loop. Secondly, he was used to receiving the looks of disgust, hate, and annoyance. To Naruto, it was just another day.

Naruto had continued in his control lessons from Kirana mostly, as Ryu had taken to his own form of meditation, one that Naruto hated. Around the home the a small hoard of tiny white orbs would follow Ryu, pulsing and creating their own sounds respectively, together they would create music. It wasn't music that Naruto hated, it was Ryu's taste in it. While one song might be pleasant, another would be completely the opposite. He seemed to have no one preference and it maddened the blonde.

Hurling a pillow from the couch at Ryu, Naruto wasn't surprised when it was easily flicked aside by a tail. "Tousan! Please stop with the music! My ears can't take it anymore!" Shouted Naruto, holding his hands on his ears. "If it bothers you so much, go play with Hinata. It's a very efficient way for my to build stamina and control, and after my last fight, I realized I'm by far not the end all be all. I only got by because I surprised them, something I don't think I'll get away with again. I've relied on raw power for too long, so thus i must train." Ryu replied professionally.

"Fine! I'll go find Hinata! At least she's quiet!" Yelled Naruto as opened the front door and shut it behind him. Breathing in the fresh air and stretching a bit Naruto smiled. Tousan might be a little annoying at times, but he was great, he was never boring, that was for sure. The two might act like they were mad at each other some times, but the truth was they understood each other very well. Naruto knew that Ryu would do anything and absolutely everything to protect him, because he was one of Ryu's two precious people. Naruto would do the exact same for Ryu for the same exact reason. Yelling over his shoulder at the door Naruto hoped Ryu heard him say when he would be back before he wandered off towards the Hyuga complex.

It was late, and the sun had just gone down and the last little bits of twilight were hanging in the air as Naruto approached the Hyuga complex. He had snuck in several times before to get Hinata, it seemed no one ever expected the shy girl to sneak out, so it was never checked. Ryu had scolded Naruto on what could happen if he was caught, but never actually told him he wasn't allowed to, so of course, he had never stopped.

Using the wall walking technique to sneak over the wall, Naruto masked his chakra well, even if a guard knew were to look, he would be hard pressed to actually see the blonde. Stealthily crawling across several roof tops and plopping down on a window frame, Naruto spotted Hinata sitting on her bed reading and said "Yo!" Naruto heard an "eeep!" abruptly caught a book to the face. Falling on his head outside of the window, wondering why Hinata did that and sitting up, he hand was grabbed by hers and she yanked him in the window roughly, where he landed on his face a second time as Hinata quickly closed the window.

Now turning to her unexpected, but not unwelcome guest, Hinata said, "N-Naruto... you know its, d-dangerous for you to visit like... like this." Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and smiled at her, "Yeah, but i was bored and Tousan is busy training. So I came to see if you wanted to go out for a walk or something?" Hinata fidgeted furiously, she was nervous. As much as she loved being around him, him being here was nerve wrecking, and the thought of her being caught with a boy in her room left her stomach in a knot. She figured it would be better to get caught sneaking out to be alone, as Naruto could probably disappear before someone got to close, so she agreed and went to get her shoes and jacket. Naruto was really beginning to be a bad influence on her, but hey, whats life without a little risk?

Several tense minutes later, Hinata found herself walking behind and to the left of the blonde, whom had his hands on his head, and seemed thoughtful. Hinata was still a little to shy to be the one to break the silence, especially cause Naruto had rarely been so pensive, so this situation was relatively new to her. Eventually they ended up in a grassy field at one of the parks and Naruto flopped on his back, hands still behind his head as he watched the night sky. He motioned for Hinata to do the same, and she did, careful not to get to close to the boy.

After another minute or so Naruto finally spoke. "Hey Hinata, why are you my friend?" The question seemed out of the blue, but the truth was, Naruto really wondered about it alot. She was practically a princess, and he, well he was just a trouble maker in all honesty. His low self esteem didn't really help the train of thought. Turning her head, Hinata stared at him for along moment before looking away and fidgeting.

"Well... y-you... you are the only one who really believes in m-me... And whenever you set y-your mind to something y-you get it done n-no matter what. But m-most of all... you have a huge heart..." Hinata managed. Naruto had watched her through the whole thing, and couldn't find anything but honesty in her words. Naruto smiled at her words, Ryu had said similar ones before, but somehow it felt different coming from her. Turning his head back up to the starry night sky, he absently placed his hand on hers. "Thanks Hinata, you're the best." Naruto really didn't notice, nor would he have understood why, but Hinata's head almost exploded. After the initial shock, she accepted it with a small smile, and simply enjoyed the ensuing silence.

The two had laid there for almost an hour, not really saying anything, simply happy to be with their only friend. But alas, all things must come to an end, and sometimes the ending isn't quite as gentle as we would like. Hiashi had been searching for his daughter for nearly an hour now after finding her room empty. A fairly quick scan with his Byakugan had shown her to not be anywhere in the compound. He couldn't fathom where else she would be after dark, so he took a walk, checking the places he knew she would frequent. That's when he saw her laying in the tall grass watching the sky, holding hands...with none other than the village pariah. This would not do. This would not do at all. At least that was Hiashi's train of thought.

"Hinata." Hiasha stated simply, standing about 15 feet from the two. Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin, and Hinata's blood froze. Both stood up quickly, Naruto unsure of what to do, Hinata bowing quickly. "Father." She said, he eyes on the ground. Hiashi glared at the two, for what seemed like an eternity, before saying, "I can't believe this Hinata. I was stunned at first to find you gone from the compound after curfew, but to be loitering around with him, after I have explicitly told you not to be seen around such a morose character, I must say that I am more than disappointed." He stated in an emotionless voice.

It was silent for a moment, then, "F-Father I-" Hinata was cut off by Hiashi. "No. I will not here another word. You will return home this instant and be punished accordingly. Come." Stated Hiashi with a stern tone. Naruto spoke up, "Hey hey! Don't punish her! I was bored and wanted to hang out with her! I talked her into it, it's my fault!" He said, trying to defend her. Hinata looked desperately to Naruto, then back to her father. Seeing this Hiashi spoke. "Enough. Very well, if this is true then, I will remove your influence from her life. Starting tomorrow I will have Hinata switched to a different class, as well as assign her an addition guard to prevent any further, incursions. Now, come!" He commanded.

Naruto's panic button was hit with those words and his anger built up from the fear of not being able to see his only friend anymore. "You can't do that!" He shouted at Hiashi. Grabbing his daughter by the arm firmly, Hiashi gave the response, "I am well with in my rights to inact these changes. Goodbye Uzumaki." Stated Hiashi turning and leaving, dragging Hinata along with him. Hinata looked back desperately at Naruto who was shaking with a mix of fear and anger at his situation. "This isn't over! I promise you Hinata! Believe it!" Naruto shouted after them as the walked away.

Frustrated beyond belief at the situation, Naruto lashed out, punching the tree he was standing next to, throwing all of his anger into it. All that pent up youkai that had been building up in his system the last few minutes didn't help the situation much as the tree was blown in half, looking like Tsunade of the sannin had hit it. Dropping to the ground, Naruto tore at his hair in frustration for a long while before he finally looked back up, noticing someone was standing with him. "Well I did warn you this could happen if you kept pushing the boundaries little guy." Said Ryu softly. Naruto, still upset, threw at him, "This isn't fair! If you were here why didn't you do anything! Why didn't you stop them!?"

Naruto wasn't really mad at Ryu, but he was the only one there at the moment, so Ryu caught the brunt of the blonde's frustration. With a sigh and a shake of his head Ryu sat down next to Naruto. "I have always been a believer of the fly or die method myself." He stated in a matter of factly tone. Naruto shook his head not understanding. "And what the heck is that supposed to mean!" Naruto demanded. Ryu looked at Naruto seriously and began, "When I was your age, I still had not learned to fly. I was far behind the learning curve, and was showing no signs improvement. So one day, while walking the cliffs where our clan resided, my mother asked me what I planned to do about it. I told her I didn't know. You know what she did?"

Naruto didn't reply but Ryu continued anyway. "She pushed me off the cliff. A three mile fall. It was fly or die. And seeing as I'm here now you can guess, I flew. Something I had struggled with for years, I learned in a heartbeat through a lesson in tough love." Naruto not getting how it related to his situation responded, "Yea and? That doesn't help me with my situation!" Ryu sighed. "The point is this, this would happen sooner or later Naruto. Now you are on the spot, and have to act quickly to repair the damage somehow. You are backed into a corner. No one is more dangerous or capable of the extraordinary than when they are in that situation. I have faith in you Naruto. You will figure out what to do." With that Ryu ruffled his hair and walked off, only pausing to say, "Kidnapping and starting a war with the Hyuga isn't ok though. I'll be at home waiting."

"I'm not sure the kit can manage this situation on his own..." Kirana said softly to Ryu. Ryu smiled softly and closed his eyes. "No one ever said I wouldn't help. I just want him to feel the pressure is all. He's got to learn sooner or later."

A/N:

Sorry for this one being a little shorter than normal, but I felt it was a good stopping point, please review! I hope I did a good job of making the situation more realistic, because I honestly hate stories that just blaze through these encounters, as well as Naruto's and Hinata's relationship. It needs to feel real ya know?


	7. Chapter 7

Welcome back everyone. Here's another chapter!

Naruto was frustrated. It had been a week since the incident with Hinata and he hadn't seen hide nor hair of his best friend. Things weren't looking good as Hiashi had proven to make full on all of his threats. Naruto hadn't tried to sneak back into the compound since, as the gaurds had been alot more alert and he would most likely be caught. He was completely at a loss for what to do. He wanted to be mad at Ryu but he knew this situation was entirely his fault, as Ryu had warned him of what could happen.

Plopping down in the wrecked training area he had been ravaging all week to vent his frustration, Naruto tried his best to calm himself and do something he wasn't all that great at, thinking. He sat down and laid out the facts. He only had three months until the academy year was up and teams would be assigned. He had that much time to try and figure things out if he was to have a chance at getting on a team with her like he had wanted. Hiashi had to be convinced that Naruto wasn't a waste of time and the trouble making prankster the village believed him to be. The Hyuga believed in power and discipline. He had to show these traits to the man. But how to do it?

"Gahhh! What the hell amI supposed to do!" He shouted in frustration. He punched the ground in anger and it cratered, leaving a fair sized hole. Trying to calm down he thought back to his conversation with Tousan earlier during his seal lessons.

-Flashback-

Naruto was having trouble focusing on the explosive tags he was supposed to be making. His mind was where it had been all week, thinking of how to fix his mess. "Tousan... What am I going to do?" Ryu looked up at him, "Well Naruto, the Hyuga are very proud, Hiashi especially so. He feels you have slighted him by helping Hinata disobey him. The only way to even begin to fix that would be a formal apology, and if you wanted the most out of it you could give them a gift of some form, the trouble with that is with how wealthy the Hyuga are, there is very little that you could offer that would impress."

Naruto sighed. He had nothing to give the Hyuga Clan that could impress. He didn't even have the slightest clue as to what could impress. Looking back at the explosive tag he was working on he read over the seal formula and winced, because of his distracted mind he had completely botched it. Ryu wouldn't accept how off that was. No way in hell. Tucking the tag quietly in pocket and started another.

-End Flashback-

Having not really got much from the memory, Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out the botched explosive note. Staring at it for a while a thought popped into his head. "Tousan said incorrectly made tags could have... unusual results. I wonder what this thing would do?" He muttered. In dire need of something to cheer him up, he pulled out a Kunai and wrapped the note around the handle.

With a grin he tossed the kunai at one of the few intact dummies and activated the tag. The results were far from expected. With a high pitched screech a fountain of sparks flew from the handle of the kunai, sending it on a ballistic course. It screeched around the training ground, flying about at high speeds before it fizzed out and went flying off into the night sky, spinning wildly. Naruto's eyes grew wide. Naruto rushed off to his home, determined to find some ink and blank explosive notes. He knew what to do.

Bursting into the door of his house and ran past a startled Ryu, who was busy reading through several of his bills. Rushing into his room Naruto laid out about a dozen or so tags and began to recreate the botched tag, and a number of variants. This is when his mind worked best, on the fly. Ryu pushed the door open, looked at Naruto who was focusing every bit of his attention on his work. Ryu looked over at the desk to see what had Naruto so focused and his eyes widened a bit seeing several variants of the explosive tags. Shaking his head, and a bit worried, "Don't get yourself blown up Naruto, Kira-kun would kill me."

Naruto jumped a bit, having not noticed Ryu until he had spoke. Looking back at Ryu, Naruto let out a big foxy grin. "Don't worry Tousan! I got everything figured out!" Not convinced in the slightest, but not willing to shut down Naruto's little experiment, Ryu replied, "Well how about this. You get a bunch of your tags made up, as well as copies of the formulas your using. Once your done, I'll teach you a jutsu that I think would be perfect for you to test them without loosing a limb." Naruto blinked, "Really!? I haven't even mastered that stupid ball thing yet!" Ryu chuckled a bit and ruffled his hair. "Well this is different. Its to help keep you safe, but for some reason I think you'll really like it." Ryu was nearly winded as Naruto tackled him with a hug. "Thank you!" Ryu merely chuckled at the boys exuberance.

-Hyuga Compound-

Hiashi was sitting in his study, deep in thought. Things had not proceeded as he had expected. He had expected Hinata to do as she always would, and simply accept the new rules emplaced. Her shy and meek nature had almost guaranteed it. However, the incident in question had caused Hiashi to see a side of her he had not known existed, defiance. She refused to speak to him except for the most simple of formalities, and when asked a direct question. This brought a slew of questions to Hiashi's mind.

Many might think that he was a cold and heartless individual, so wrapped in pride in tradition that he had little else but the best interest for the Hyuga clan underneath that icy exterior. No matter anyone's thoughts on the man, he was still a father, one that did in fact care for his children, even if he didn't show it. He had always been overly concerned with his eldest daughters disposition. She was to shy and timid for the likes of a Hyuga, and her reputation had suffered greatly because of it. And now she was openly defying him in protest of his actions.

She had made several attempts at eluding her new guards, coming closer to succeeding each time. The most recent attempt was only thwarted through sheer luck, as she had indeed escaped her guards, only to run into Hiashi moments later. It was clear that she had found something that she truly wanted, and that was to spend time with her friend. Come to think of it, Hiashi really couldn't think of anyone else that he could consider his daughters friend. All of this over that boy. Had the boy really succeeded where he had not in giving Hinata some backbone? Hiashi's eyebrows furrowed at the thought.

-The Following Evening At The Training Ground-

Naruto panted a bit in exhaustion. He was covered in ink, soot, and copious amount of dirt. Ryu had trained him into the dirt for most of the day teaching him the shadow clone jutsu. He had explained that it was far, far safer using a shadow clone to test out experimental seals of any kind, much more so explosive notes. Having mastered the jutsu in a little over half a day Naruto had insisted on starting his explosive note experiment immediately.

To say the least, Ryu was surprised with the results. He had thought Naruto was trying to make some kind of shaped charge, judging from the modifications he was making. That was not quite the case. Naruto had spent the entire day, with Ryu's help, modifying the seal tags to let out their explosive capacity in a controlled, powerful stream. The result was the kunais being propelled to insane speeds in the most unpredictable of directions. It was an extremely good thing that Ryu had stepped in and had Naruto lean the shadow clone jutsu, because his shadow clones had been getting taken out like there was no tomorrow. Hell, Ryu had to intervene a few times and intercept some of the more unpredictable of the ballistic kunai, which much to his surprise he found to be quite challenging seeing as how unbelievably fast they could get going and how unpredictable they could be.

But in the end it had resulted in a major payoff. They had created an entirely new offensive weapon. The tag would active just after being tossed, and would propel the kunai to extreme speeds. While loud and noisy, the average ninja would be hard pressed to dodge them, especially considering you could wrap the blade itself with another, regular, explosive tag for even more of an effect. Their only downside was they used up about three times the chakra that a regular explosive note would require. While manageable for high chunnin and jonin level ninja, gennin and low chunnin would most likely have a hard time with more than just a few.

"Well Tousan. I think... I think we've pretty much got it down." Panted Naruto from his prone position. Ryu looked on with pride at the carnage their little experiment had caused. The training ground was absolutely trashed. "I'd say so. I gotta admit Naruto, I'm impressed. How on earth did you come up with this?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head. "Well I kinda totally screwed up an explosive note during lessons yesterday and hid it so you wouldn't see... Then later on I still had it, and was bored so I, well... Set it off. Hehehe..." Ryu rolled his eyes and massaged his temple a little. Naruto was more dangerous to himself than any enemy ninja ever could be. "Well, while it worked out this time, please don't play with unknown seals while I'm not around alright?" Ryu said firmly. "Sure thing Tousan." Was Naruto's only response. "C'mon, lets get home and cleaned up and get some ramen to celebrate." Ryu said much to Naruto's delight.

-The Next Day-

Ryu had gone off to work and left Naruto had spent his Sunday getting things together for his plan that he had been putting together. He had actually tried to do something with his hair, put on a rather nice Kimono that he had never once touched before, even though Ryu had gotten it for him, and he brought a few copies of his new ballistic tags. He was ready to fix his mess. Double checking that everything was in order Naruto headed out.

-Hyuga Compound-

It was around Noon and Hiashi was finishing up some reports when his assistant entered with a bow. "Hiashi-sama, there is a one, Uzumaki Naruto, requesting a moment of your time. He says he wishes to make amends for his past transgressions, whatever that could mean." Hiashi raised an eyebrow at that and figured the boy's father had put him up to it, in which case he should accept and audience at least. It would not do well to upset an S-Class nin without reason. "Send him in." Stated Hiashi curtly, gathering his composure for the meeting.

Naruto was nervous as he entered the room. He had spent the entire morning reading a book on manners and what to do in this sort of situation. He couldn't mess up. He wanted his friend back. Naruto bowed respectfully and waited until Hiashi gestured for him to take a seat. Hiashi spoke first, "So what purpose do you have here Uzumaki." Stated Hiashi in a steely voice.

Naruto winced a little and bit hard down on his pride. He hated what he was going to have to do, but he didn't have a choice. "Hiashi-sama I would like to convey a most deep and sincere apology to you for causing your daughter to break your rules. I was wrong in my actions and hope to gain your forgiveness on the matter. As proof of my sincerity, I have brought a gift that I think could be of great use to the Hyuga clan." The words tasted like ashes in Naruto's mouth, but he would do anything he had to for a friend. To say the least Hiashi was surprised, even if he didn't show it.

"Very well the Uzumaki, let me see this token you have brought with you." Naruto nodded and replied, "It would be much better If i were able to demonstrate in in your dojo, it is a weapon of my own creation, and I would rather not damage your office, Hiashi-sama." Hiashi was more than a little skeptical, but the boy had shown proper etiquette, he may as well entertain him for a few minutes longer. "Very well. Follow me."

Walking through the compound, Naruto couldn't help but feel more than a little nervous. If this didn't work, he was shit out of luck and he knew it. Arriving in the dojo, which was larger even than the academies, Hiashi gestured too a row of practice dummies. "Now, Uzumaki, show me what your creation can do, if anything." Replied a skeptical Hiashi. Naruto nodded and pulled out his kunai with a ballistic tag on it. Tossing the kunai, Naruto activated the tag and the kunai rocketed forward, Hiashi not having his Byakugan activated lost track of the kunai's blinding speed before it went clean through the dummy, and the wall behind it, flying off into the gardens. Looking at the smoking holes Hiashi's eyes widened, ever so slightly.

"Hehe, sorry about that..." Said Naruto rubbing the back of his head as he always did. Continuing, Naruto said, "I figured that since the Hyuga clan Is are all close range fighters, It would help if they had a powerful ranged weapon. So I wanted to share this with you as a way of apologizing." Said Naruto casually, momentarily forgetting the formalities. Hiashi was deep in though for a moment before, "Have you shared this technique with anyone else?" he asked. Naruto shook his head. "It wouldn't be much of a gift if anyone else besides myself knew how to make them."

Hiashi was silent for a long moment. Perhaps this boy wasn't as much trouble as Hiashi had thought. He had helped Hinata become more sure of herself which was a feat he couldn't accomplish, and now he had given the Hyuga a considerable gift as a way of apology. He had even followed the proper courtesies to letter, at least up until the end. With a very rare sigh, Hiashi said, "Very well Uzumaki. Your apology is accepted. I will see about placing my daughter back in her original class. I fully expect you to consult with me any time you wish see Hinata outside of class. Am I clear?" Naruto shook his head furiously. "Explicitly." He replied holding out a copy of the ballistic tag to Hiashi. Taking the tag with the ever so slightest of bows, Hiashi nodded and dismissed Naruto, who was feeling rather triumphant as he was escorted out of the complex by a branch member.

A/N

Hey guys hope you liked how this all turned out in the end. Hope you enjoyed, and I assure you this isn't just fluff. That little creation of Naruto's is a big part of a new technique he will be putting together, one I'm sure everyone will love! Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

And here we are! The next chapter! Thanks for the reviews and tips and suggestions everyone. Remember, all idea's are welcome, If your idea is better than mine for the story, then it is!

Things had played out rather well for Naruto, with his gift to the Hyuga, and his apology, Hiashi had revised his point of view on the blonde. Hinata was placed back into her original class, however, she still had two body gaurds from the branch house at all times. Especially when she was spending time with Naruto. It seemed Hiashi had the same concerns as every father.

Things had progressed quickly, and the school year was coming to an end. The exams were the very next day and the teams were soon to be chosen. Naruto had been hoping beyond hope to be put on a team with Hinata, and she had the same thoughts. However, what neither really thought of, was who their third team mate would be. While they were friendly with a number of people, no one really stuck out. Oh well they would know when they knew, was the conjoined thought of the two.

It was late in the evening and Ryu was helping Naruto meditate, something that the boy had truly hated with every fiber of his being. With an aggravated grumble Naruto burst out, "What is the point of doing this all the time! I don't get what the point is!" Ryu sighed. He had explained this a dozen or so times to Naruto as to why it was so important, but he guessed he would have to show him.

"Naruto. Do you remember the tree at the park, where Hiashi caught you and Hinata?" Ryu asked. Naruto thought for a long moment, his face twisted with effort. "No... I don't remember much of that evening, except that I was really upset, and angry." Ryu nodded at his reply. "Chakra, of any form, is respondent to emotion. Demonic chakra, which you have a near infinite supply of, is respondent to negative emotion. While being upset or angry is a good way to bring it out, it is not a very controllable way to do so. Therefore we meditate. So that you can sense and control it outside of severe emotional outbreaks, that can get you killed." He explained.

Naruto nodded in understanding, and Ryu continued, "Now when Hiashi left with Hinata, you were extremely upset, and weather you realized it or not your youkai surged. It may have clouded your mind a bit, but you accessed that power. And with it, you snapped a full grown tree in half like it was a twig." Naruto's eyes widened a bit at the revelation. "What really!? If it was that easy when I was mad-" Naruto's outburst was cut off by Ryu. "This is not an acceptable way to use this power. It is not how Kirana used it, and not how you will use it. It will require extreme amounts of emotional control Naruto. Now I'm not saying that you become numb, but you must learn to control the negative ones, emotions that would consume you with the help of the youkai, leaving you as someone none of us could recognize."

Naruto looked a little put out by that but he agreed with Ryu, he didn't want to become a monster like everyone had said he was. Ryu ruffled Naruto's hair a bit with a warm smile. "Now. I want you to focus on how you felt that day. Bring those emotions back, but only long enough to feel the change in chakra. Then think of something that makes you happy, but try your best to hold onto the foreign chakra." He instructed.

Nodding, our blonde hero focused as best he could. Ryu saw the changes. His hands slowly became fists, and shook ever so slightly. The youkai, slowly creeped forth, and Ryu could sense the faintest of red aura's around the boy. Naruto stayed that way for a long time, and Ryu was about to intervene when he felt the mood change, Naruto relaxed, and the aura took a slightly orange hue for a split second, before Naruto fell flat on his face.

Quickly sitting Naruto back up and checking to see if he was alright Ryu did a quick scan, to find that Naruto was suddenly quite worn out. Ryu waved a smelling salt under Naruto's nose and the blonde woke up violently and smashed Ryu in the face on instinct. "GAAHHHH! MY FACE IS ON FIRE!" Shouted Naruto, his eyes sealed shut while watering and nose running like a waterfall while he gagged a bit.

Ryu frowned. That was too violent of a reaction. The salts weren't that strong. Ryu buried the smelling salt and helped Naruto wash his face, mouth, and eyes out with his canteen. Naruto looked up and Ryu, and still gasping a little, "Gahhh... Tousan... That sucked..." Naruto managed. However Ryu had not responded, his eyes were a little wide and he was lost in thought. "Uhmmm... Tousan? Whats wrong?" Naruto asked. "Shit." Was his only reply.

Ryu stared, fixated on Naruto's blue eyes. They were that same ever enchanting blue color, but the pupils... They were not. They were now slitted, without so much of a hint of youkai running through the boy. _"You knew this was bound to happen at some point."_ Kirana remarked, snapping him out of his trance. _"Yea but I was hoping that it would be much later..."_ Ryu replied.

Ryu's mind then raced for a second and he grabbed Naruto and pushed the boys blonde hair around and was relieved when he didn't find anything. _"I don't see why your so worried, it's really just a sign of him taking the first steps to controlling his power. I might have to start special lessons with him soon..."_ Remarked Kirana. "TOUSAN! What the heck are you doing!?" Naruto shouted pushing Ryu's hand off his head.

It was Ryu's turn to be sheepish, rubbing the back of his own head, a habit acquired from Naruto, Ryu pulled a tiny mirror out of his pocket and handed it to Naruto. Naruto looked at the mirror and his eyes looked like they were bulging harder than a shocked Hyuga using the Byakugan. Naruto was quietly staring at at his reflection for a long moment before Ryu placed a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto?" He asked softly.

Naruto's shoulders slumped a bit. "Yea Tousan?" He asked, his voice a bit apprehensive. Ryu gave him an understanding look, knowing Naruto was afraid of what people would say about this. "We can apply a genjutsu over it later. Its a very small change, so you won't even notice its chakra drain, alright?" Naruto nodded and Ryu grinned at him. "Alright. You seem to have gotten a minor handle on what needs to be done here. Lets go discuss it over ramen, my treat?" He asked, knowing it would cheer Naruto up. Just as he expected, Naruto took off with a whoop in the direction of the ramen stand, not bothering to see if Ryu was following or not. Chuckling at how simple of a creature Naruto could be at times, Ryu took off after him, he still needed to place the genjutsu before anyone saw.

-The Next Morning At Naruto's-

Ryu was having the warmest of dreams, It was peaceful, quiet, save for a soft rumbling of a daytime rain. He was in a hammock under some trees, shielded from the rain by some interlocked branches. But more than anything he was warm. He felt, like someone had wrapped the softest of heated blankets around him. It was something he never wanted to wake from, it was all just so peaceful.

But things could not be as such. "Ryu-kun..." Rang a familiar voice in his ears. He gave no reply, hoping that they would just go away. "Come on Ryu-kun, wake up..." Said the voice, and this time he felt the warmth shift, and felt a pair of lips planted upon his. His eyes shot open and he saw the thing he had missed most in his life staring back him. Those beautiful crimson eyes... Kirana pulled back from her kiss with a satisfied smile, then poofed out of existence, and he heard her speak in his mind. _"That was... Absolutely exhausting..."_ She managed.

Ryu felt better than he had in a long time. He didn't even need ask how or why, he knew. She was beginning to get a serious hold on her power again. "How long can you hold a solid body?" He asked her quickly. _"Five, maybe ten minutes a day at best..."_ Was her reply. That would not do. That wasn't nearly enough time for a proper reunion.

Both of their thoughts were brushed aside as Naruto made his usual morning assault on Ryu. Flying in and hurling a pillow at Ryu, Naurto shouted, "C'mon Tousan! Get up! It's exam day!" Shouted Naruto. Ryu had promised Naruto since the exams usually only took a couple of hours, that he would spend the day there at the academy, and once Naruto had graduated, take Naruto out for anything he had wanted, which Ryu was really expecting to be just some more ramen. He didn't know just how wrong he was.

-Later At The Academy-

Everyone, Naruto included, had passed all other parts of the exam. All that was left was the practical portion, where Iruka, or another instructor would test them in combat. Anything was aloud, although killing was strictly forbidden. Naruto had come solidly in second place, only behind Sasuke. Even if Naruto completely dominated this portion, which he was sure he would, he would be firmly in second. Something that really didn't bother Naruto, but Sasuke had seemed overly proud of talking about loudly so that Naruto could hear.

Stepping into the ring once his name was called, Naruto couldn't help but be excited. He wanted to see how well he could do against a real ninja. Sure he had battled with Ryu on many occasions, but that was different, as in his eyes no one but the Hokage had even a chance of beating Ryu in his eyes. Getting into his relaxed fighting stance, Naruto's opponent Mizuki, told him that he could start.

Naruto wasted no time and rushed forward, and jumped to drop kick Mizuki in the chest, Mizuki blocked, but was surprised to find no force behind the kick. Instead, Naruto did a sort of a crouch landing on the Chunin's chest and put his momentum into a hay maker which Mizuki barely dodged, before Naruto pushed off of him setting his balance off. Landing on all fours, Naruto rushed forward instantly and left himself seemingly wide open as he went to throw a punch into Mizuki's gut.

Taking the opening, Mizuki threw a punch at Naruto's face, who simply went limp at his knee's and leaned back, using his built momentum to throw a kick, right into Mizuki's groin. Mizuki instantly doubled over and caught the other foot to his face. The blows weren't strong enough to cause serious damage to the chunin, but they were enough to piss him off.

Mizuki flipped back several times to grain some distance before tossing blunt kunai at Naruto with enough force to cause serious harm if Naruto took one to the head. Naruto backed up rapidly, dodging most with some effort, and actually catching a couple and using the energy they already had to twist around and send them back at Mizuki with minimal effort.

Mizuki blocked the kunai sent his way with relative ease and was surprised to see Naruto making a hand seal before the blonde shouted, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and with a poof there were five Naruto's who all began tossing kunai every which way. Most were poorly aimed and the rest were easily blocked. Mizuki was about to laugh when Iruka called the match, confusing him.

Seeing the look of confusion in his eyes Iruka explained. "Look at the kunai. They all have explosive tags on the handles. He could have blasted you and half the courtyard apart." Naruto was grinning like the devil and Mizuki was insisting he could have used a substitution to get out of it if he had to, but regardless Naruto had passed the test with flying colors.

After receiving his headband from Iruka who gave him a pat on the shoulder and a grin, Naruto shouted out in joy. "Alright! One step closer to Hokage!" Alot of people snickered at the comment. But Naruto notice, as he was way to happy with his success as they were ushered back into the classroom to have final notes put out before they were released to their parents.

Ryu saw Naruto approaching him after watching the blonde say goodbye to Hinata. He smiled proudly at the headband Naruto was wearing and grabbed the boy in a headlock and tousled his hair about. Today was a good day. "I see you passed, great job Naru-kun." Said Ryu with a warm smile as he released Naruto from the headlock.

"Awww c'mon, did you expect anything less?" Naruto asked with a big smile. Ryu shook his head. "Not at all. In fact I brought extra money for your ramen feast I'm sure you want." Naruto grinned like a fox that just ate a chicken. "C'mon Tousan, ramen isn't all I think about. I can have that any time, and you said that I could have anything that I wanted! So I want a new jutsu!" Demanded the blonde.

Ryu sweat dropped. He had promised him anything within reason, and that was well within those parameters. The thing was, even though he was a dragon, he didn't have many techniques that he could teach the boy because like a Bijuu, most of his attacks and styles relied on the manipulation of pure chakra, rather than true techniques. Besides most of the one he did know were not suited to the blonde at all. "Uhmmm..." Ryu said as he put his hand to his head. Naruto pouted. "TOUSAN! You promised!"

Ryu was nervous for a moment before he finally thought of something. "Oh! I've got it! Yeah that will work. Come on Naruto, knowing you, you'll want to start now I'm geussing?" Ryu said to the now estatic blonde. "Yeah! Lets go!" Yelled Naruto as he ran off too their usual training ground. In his head Ryu heard a voice, sly and curious. _"Did you give him those chakra balls, as not just a way to get better, but knowing his shit control, that you wouldn't have to teach him any jutsu before he got a sensei?"_ Kirana asked. _"Heh... Maybe?"_ Was Ryu's reply.

-At The Training Ground-

Naruto was basically bouncing around at the thought of a cool new jutsu. It took some effort and a small explosion, but Ryu finally got Naruto's attention back to the task on hand. "Alright Naruto, this jutsu is extremely similar to your shadow clone jutsu. It's purpose is to exponentially increase the number of thrown weapons heading towards an enemy. Like so." Ryu tossed a single shuriken, and with a shout of "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" one became a hundred. Ryu showed Naruto the extra hand seals required, and explained it a bit more before handing Naruto a dull shuriken.

"Now you try. Remember, this is a little more about control than raw power, so don't over do it." Ryu instructed to Naruto. Naruto shook his head in response and tossed the shuriken without a second thought. Preforming the handseals and shouting "Shurkien Shadow Clone Justsu!" Naruto got a result that he did not expect at all. He made way to many. Way way too many. In fact Naruto barely got a yell of terror out before the mound of shurkien toppled over on top of him.

"And that's what happens when you try to put too many shuriken in one place. I said not to over do it." Ryu said as he shook his head. The shuriken dispelled with a unconscious Naruto on his back with a single shuriken on his chest. Sighing, Ryu picked the boy up, deciding to just take him home for now as he didn't want to give Naruto another horrid experience of smelling salts because of his high level senses. He could figure out the rest of the jutsu later.

The next day Naruto was out the door before Ryu was even up. He was insanely excited, and nervous, about what team he was going to be out on and who his new sensei was going to be. He really hoped he would be on a team with Hinata, but at the same time he had no clue who would be third member. Ryu had explained to him how teams were built, and he couldn't think of what he would end up doing, and who would compliment his and Hinata's strengths and weaknesses.

Rushing into the classroom Naruto was surprised to see most of the class already there. Apparently he wasn't the only one who was excited to find out who he would be on a team with. Shrugging the thought off he headed up to his seat next to Hinata and picked up a conversation. The students all gossiped and talked, speculating on who would be with who, and the fangirls all argued over who would get to be on Sasuke's team, none more so than Ino and Sakura.

After a while Iruka entered the room and got everyone's attention. "Alright class, as you all know, this is probably the last time you will be seeing me for a while, as you will be getting your teams and sensei's today. I won't keep you in suspense any longer, so here are the match ups." Said Iruka as he pulled his list up. He began to speak, sorting the less memorable of people into their teams until the following teams were made. "Team seven will consist of Saskue Uchiha, (all of the fangirls tensed up in anticipation.) Kiba Inuzuka, and Sakura Haruno." All of the fangirls screamed in disappointment except for Sakura who went on a taunting speech to Ino before Iruka shut them up and continued.

"Team Eight will consist of Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame." Naruto jumped up onto his desk and started yelling a victory chant and Hinata smiled warmly, both happy to be on a team together, but Shino just didn't seem to react at all. Naruto kept dancing around until he caught an eraser to the face from Iruka, who after getting Naruto to shut up announced that team ten would consist of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and much to her disdain, Ino Yamanaka. Various Jonin's entered the room and grabbed up their respective teams until it was only Team Seven and Team Eight left.

Naruto was about to go over and cause some form of trouble with team seven where Kiba was already having issues with an uncaring Sasuke who had some how insulted the Inuzuka boy. But just then a Jonin with brown hair and black eyes entered and addressed the remaining genin. "Team Eight, come with me." Were his only words and he waited for the three of them to follow him out the door. Some time later, after a rather quiet walk to a nondescript park, the Jonin had them sit down on a bench and introduced himself. "Hello. My name Is Yamato, you will refer to me as Yamato-Sensei."

A/N

Alright guys! Hope you enjoyed it! I felt that Yamato made more sense as a teacher for Naruto because of his ability to control Naruto's demonic chakra. You would think that the skeptical clan heads would have requested this anyway. However the team style I guess I'm building is that of a hunter nin squad. Power and tracking ability. Please review and post your thoughts! Until next time!


	9. Chapter 9

Going to apologize in advance for the late upload, my microsoft word derped out and I had to spell check by sight alone! On top of that for the last two days my internet was derp mode. I hope you all enjoyed the previous chapter, and here's another. ^.^ Sorry again for the late upload, but I have been working hard on the next chapter which will be pretty long! Oh and I figure I should add this in.

DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS

Looking up Yamato, Naruto and Hinata both said, "Hai!" In unison and Shino merely nodded. Yamato observed his tried to get a judge of their character. He had heard a good bit about them from Iruka, but he wanted first hand experience. "Alright everyone tell us a little bit about yourselves. Like what you enjoy, what you dislike, your goals, things like that."

Without much hesitation, Naruto was the first one to speak up. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm the future Hokage! I love ramen, spending time with Tousan, Hinata-chan, and eating ramen! I don't like people that hate others and I hate chakra control exercises!" He shouted out enthusiastically. Yamato sweat dropped a little before turning to the other two.

Hinata and Shino glanced at eachother, both seeing if the other would speak first. Seeing her nervousness, Shino took the initiative. "My name is Shino Aburame, I enjoy working on the various hives at my clan compound. My goal is to become a strong and worthy heir to position of clan head." His response was short and quick, much as Yamato had expected.

Nodding, Yamato turned to Hinata who had begun to twiddle her fingers at everyone's attention. "U-uhm. My name i-is Hinata H-Hyuga. I l-like spending time with Naruto-kun, pressing flowers, a-and cooking. My... My goal is t-to be a kind and s-strong clan heir..." She managed. Yamato took note of her shyness and nodded.

Looking over his prospective team Yamato began. "Alright everyone. This team was formed with the express purpose of being a hunter tracker team, so we will be training for seek and destroy missions. But before any of that can happen, I need to see that you really are worthy of that headband that you are all wearing."

Naruto looked up at Yamato a little confused and shouted, "Hey! We already earned them! What do you mean we need to see if we are worthy!?" Yamato grinned. "You have passed a test to see if you have the ability to be a genin. You have yet to pass my test that is designed to show me if you have the stuff it will take to survive as a genin. Otherwise you will be right back at the academy." He stated simply, spawning the heated protests from Naruto, and the confused looks of the other two.

To everyone's surprise it was the quiet Aburame that spoke up. "If I may Yamato sensei, what will this test consist of?" He asked calmly. Yamato kept an impassive face and replied. "You will have to track me down and capture me." Shino nodded, the thought of trying to capture a jonin was rather daunting, however he would not let his team fail. "W-when will the t-test be?" Asked Hinata shyly. "Now!" Shouted Yamato suddenly, and in an explosion of smoke he vanished.

Naruto shouted out something crazy and was about to leap off in a random direction before Shino grabbed his collar. "Calm yourself." Naruto turned around and blurted out, "What do you mean!? We gotta find him or we are going to get sent back to the academy!" Shino shook his head. "This is a test of how well we can preform our teams designated role. We must act professionally. Besides, I already planted an insect on him, I know where he is."

"G-good job Shino" Said Hinata with a smile. Naruto let out a big grin. "Well alright! I take us too him! I got this great new jutsu I'm sure I can get him with!" With a nod Shino took the lead of the group and led them off towards the training ground his insects were telling him to go to. Hinata activated her Byakugan and Naruto could be seen messing with some tags and blunted kunai.

-Training Ground 32-

Yamato leaned up against the tree he was hidden in as he waited for his students to find him. _"I wonder how long it will take them to figure me out, if at all."_ He wondered. However his musings were cut short as he felt a subtle chakra flare and insects swarmed at him from all sides. Simply melding into the tree he was on to avoid the attack he was surprised to find the entire area had been encircled with chakra sensing explosive tags. _"They stayed out of my sensing ranged and cut off all escape. Very good..."_ He thought to himself.

Yamato could easily avoid the explosive notes if he had too, but he felt he should humor the group and see how their trap unfolded. As he came under attack after dropping into a clearing he found that he was not disappointed at all. Hinata and Naruto closed the distance quickly, engaging him fiercly in a taijutsu brawl while Shino stayed in the shadows, constantly harassing Yamato with his insects from afar.

Yamato actually had a little trouble with Naruto's style. While the gentle fist was well known to him, Naruto's style left him at a loss. It was completely fluid and unpredictable. He was given openings so often that were always traps to lure him into Naruto's attacks that we was weary of being overly offensive with the boy. However most notable was the two's coordination with each other. They covered each other perfectly. It was only Yamato's superior battle experience and speed that kept him from actually receiving a few hits.

Yamato was rather surprised at the stamina the group showed him but was feeling like going a bit harder on them before he realized that the group had actually been herding him. He thought that the battle was just randomly zigzaging across training ground, until he realized behind him was a cliff wall and Hinata and Naruto flipped back away from him creating space.

Yamato could only wonder what they were up too when Hinata stopped and put her hands together, which Naruto landed in, allowing her to launch him high into the air. Pulling out a single kunai Naruto shouted "Try and dodge this one sensei!" Yamato was a little amused that they thought a single kunai with an explosive note could get him, at least he did, until he recognized the hand signs that Naruto was making.

Naruto grinned savagely as Shino and Hinata scrambled for cover, Hinata much more so. Tossing his kunai and activating the tag, Naruto shouted, "BALLISTIC STORM!" As he did the hand seals for the kunai shadow clone jutsu, and his tagged kunai became a thousand. Several things now happened. Naruto having only come up with this idea of combining his tags with the multiplication jutsu, hadn't realized the level of control needed to make perfect copies of the original tag, didn't foresee the complications he had made. Also he had not expected the massive chakra drain from activating that many ballistic tags, and almost instantly passed out. Lastly, Yamato, Hinata, and Shino, almost shit themselves as the not so well produced ballistic kunai went of into every direction imaginable. It was a good thing Shino had told Naruto it would be better to use dulled kunai, because nobody except Yamato managed to escape that shitstorm of a jutsu.

Yamato emerged from the tree he was in to observe the carnage. The entire clearing was covered in kunai, splintered trees, and half of it was on fire. Shino was sitting under a tree holding his arm, and Hinata was hovering over Naruto, trying desperately to get some kind of response from the unconscious boy. _"Holy shit. That was ridiculous."_ Yamato thought as he hurried over to check on Naruto.

Pushing aside Hinata who was on the verge of tears, Yamato did a quick scan of Naruto, and was relieved to find that he was simply suffering from a mild case of chakra exhaustion, and a good numer of bruises and minor burns. Shino limped over to see if Naruto was alright, and both he and Hinata were relieved to hear Yamato say. "He will be fine, he just needs some rest." Shino nodded, and Hinata let out a pent up breath she hadn't known she had been holding.

"I apologize for that Yamato-sensei. Naruto had assured us that this technique of his would be under control as long as we were out of the way. I don't believe he lied to us, but rather something went wrong that he did not forsee." Stated Shino as he nursed his injured arm. "P-please forgive h-him Yamato-sensei. He h-had the kunai and shuriken clone jutsu under control. I... I d-don't think he expected t-that adding tags could g-go so wrong..." Hinata pleaded with her Sensei.

Yamato was quiet for a moment as he mulled things over. Sure Naruto had blown half the training ground to shit, but he and his team had preformed almost flawlessly up until that point. And even after they had been injured by a serious misfire of a jutsu of his, the other two stuck up for Naruto. _"Accident's happen, and they are new. But all in all they preformed extremely well as a team."_ Yamato thought. Making his mind up Yamato kneeled over and picked up Naruto.

"Don't worry about it. You all had preformed extremely well as a unit. Go home and get rested up. I will take Naruto home and speak with his father about this jutsu, I expect you two to meet up at training ground 33 tomorrow morning for training, as you have passed my test, even if you did literally blow it at the end there." Hinata beamed up at her sensei, happy to hear praise, and that they passed, quickly making sure Naruto was really going to be ok, she bowed and headed off. Although surprised, Shino let out a very faint smirk, and nodded, before bowing and leaving toward his clan estate, intent on making sure his arm wasn't broken.

Yamato looked down at the unconscious blonde in his arms and shook his head. _"Yea. Until you get that jutsu under control, its getting labeled as forbidden."_ He thought as he walked off holding the boy in his arms, not really noticing the root agent, watching them from the clifftop.

-Naruto and Ryu's Home-

Ryu was gently playing the piano, a slow soft tune conveying emotion and heart. The song in question was 'When the love falls.' Ryu loved the piano. For as crazy and unpredictable as he could be at times, he would at times fall deep into his thoughts, and even become lost in them. The piano was his escape from his thoughts. He simply let his emotion pick the keys and the tempo, and all was right with his world. Kirana was quietly listening through his ears, she loved to hear him play, as it soothed her as well.

Ryu had much in his life to be thankful for, but he had just as much to regret. He had killed so many in his quest to retrieve Kirana, he sometimes questioned himself. His clan had looked down upon him for his relationship with the Kitsune. It was considered unsightly for someone of his standing to be seen with such a lowly trickster as they had said to him.

He had not listened to a word they spoke to him. He gave her his all. His everything. He had sacrificed his everything, and abandoned his family to be with her. Regardless of that he had been so happy to simply be able to wake up wrapped in her red tails. But it was not meant to last. His clan was extremely upset that a dragon with as much power as he had had, left the clan for something so... 'trivial.' Tensions ran high between him and his family.

Then when Kirana had suddenly disappeared, his family saw the opportunity to and told him they had taken her. That he was to serve them, and never question them again, in return for her safety. He had agreed, anything to keep her safe and alive. Anything at all... That was until he heard one of the elders saying that it was not yet time to tell him she had been killed. That's when everything had gone out of control.

-Flashback-

Ryu had been summoned by the elders for something or another, It seemed the powers of a white dragon were something to be constantly flaunted and used. He was the first dragon of his kind in over three hundred years, and the clan waved him around like a child with his fathers sword, using him to instill fear and submission into others. But as he walked down the hall towards the meeting chambers, Ryu had heard them discussing the fate of his love, and upon hearing them discussing when they should tell him she was dead, he had lost all notions of sanity and reason. Ryu stood there, on all fours, in his full dragon form, shaking. _"Dead...? She can't... No! NONONO!"_ Wracked with feelings of hatred, loss and grief, and pure desolation at her loss, Ryu blasted through the wall of the hallway he was in.

The elder dragons didn't ask him the meaning of his intrusion, they knew, and they simply motioned for the guards to intervene. Ryu didn't care. He would kill them, no matter who got in his way. He had lost his light in life, and it would be atoned for. He slaughtered the guards, the elders, his family, his clan members. He was covered in their blood and he didn't even care. The last of the elders, wounded as he was laughed. "Damned fool. When the rest of the clan hears of this, not even you will survive their revenge... All of this... for what? A worthless Kitsune." Ryu slowly lifted his elder in the air by the throat and held him there.

"For the woman I loved. For my other half. Thats what this was for. To avenge her. I know I will die soon after this, but at least I will be with her as we are Judged by Kami." Said Ryu as he began to crush the elders throat. With a final laugh the elder told him in spite, "You haven't avenged anyone! Hahahaha! It wasn't even us that killed her! It was the humans! Ha..ha..." And with his last words the elder died with a spiteful grin across his maw.

Dropping him Ryu looked around himself, devastated at what he had wrought. All of this for nothing? His cousins... His family, he had killed over a dozen of them for nothing? He had misjudged things that badly? He felt hollow at that moment. The guilt and pain he felt was unmatched. Then he did the only thing he could think of, he ran. He ran for the celestial gates. The separation of his world and the humans. They wouldn't let him through, but he couldn't stay. Not now.

-Flashback End-

Ryu was jerked out of his memory by a knock at the door. Shaking away the dark thoughts that had been buzzing around in his head he stood up and went to see who it was. Upon reaching the door and answering it, Ryu was both surprised and worried to see a Jonin holding an unconscious Naruto in his arms. Before Ryu could barrage the man with concerned questioning, Yamato held up his hand and said "Don't worry, he's fine, just chakra exhaustion from overexerting himself."

Ryu sighed at that and quickly motioned for Yamato to come inside. Once Yamato had come in and gently laid Naruto down on the couch, Ryu motioned toward the kitchen, "Please come and sit, would you like some tea?" He asked, leading the Jonin out of the living room. After taking a seat Yamato graciously accepted the tea and began. "I am Naruto's new Jonin sensei." Ryu nodded as he had figured as much. Yamato continued, "I was administering a test to Naruto and his team to test their abilities, and he used a multiplication jutsu in combination with a type of exploding tag I am not familiar with. I dont think he realized the strain that such a technique can cause, nor did he realize the amount of controll required to properly duplicate explosive notes of any kind. Needless to say, the results were nearly catastrophic."

Ryu rubbed his forehead. Naruto was always causing some kind of chaos around the village and as much as Ryu enjoyed a good explosion, it wasn't something that Naruto should just be doing willy nilly. "Was anyone hurt besides himself?" Ryu asked. "His team mates suffered some moderate bruising, but they should be fine. I almost needed a pair of pants for a minute there myself." Chuckled Yamato.

Ryu was relieved at hearing that no one had been hurt by the mishap. He knew that Naruto would freak out if he hurt anyone, and worried to think what the boy might do if he accidentally caused harm to Hinata. Looking up from his cup of tea, Ryu eyed Yamato and thanked him. "I really appreciate that you brought him home, Yamato-san."

Yamato gave his fellow jonin a friendly smile and kept the conversation going. They talked for a while, mostly about Naruto, and what Yamato could expect from his new student. While Yamato had heard of Ryu, he had never met him as Ryu was known to keep to himself. Thinking of that, and taking a chance, "Ryu-san, The Jonin are having a bit of party tomorrow night, as it will be the first time in a long time almost all jonin will be in the village at the same time. How about you come along?" Yamato offered.

Ryu was a bit surprised by the offer and coming to his desicion, "Sure, why not. I could use some fresh air." Yamato was a bit surprised at the acceptance of his proposal but was happy to hear it. "Very good. It will be held over in the Hokages tower tomorrow night, it starts around seven pm, so make sure you show." He said in a friendly tone before glancing at his watch. "Well I must really be going now, so I'll see you around eh?" Ryu nodded and saw Yamato out the door with a smile. Thats when a voice appeared in his head making him frown. "You better not get drunk Ryu-kun. You KNOW how you get."

A/N

Ok guys I got the next chapter in the works and its going to be a long one, Its were Naruto really starts to develop his personal skills and a few new things out on their first mission. On top of that I have some idea's in the works for the Hyuga and Ryu. I was thinking that maybe since Ryu is a hite dragon, the Hyuga could have received their bloodline as a gift from one of Ryu's distant relatives. This would lead to Hinata having some interesting traits later on, ill let you guys vote on that, cause i'm not really sure either way! :P Oh and also next chapter, Ryu's party! It will be nonsense. :D


	10. UPDATE

Hey guys I apologize for the really long time in between updates on my story, I know I don't have a whole lot of fans but I figured I would give you an update on whats up. Well I got Borderlands Presequel and Destiny, and had been consumed between that and my new job, and just as I decided to get back to work on my writing project, my cat wrecked my laptop charger and I just didn't have the money to replace it. I read through it and I really felt like I was overly rushing the story point, so as of right now I am going back through and expanding on everything, lengthening and modifying the chapters. I really felt like I hadn't properly explained a lot of what was going on and left alot of the back story out. So Im going through and expanding and explaining everything. Really trying to expand Kyuubi's role more in depth and have it so things make more sense all around. The story will be much of the same, but will hopefully be a good deal longer and hopefully be better received. Also been scribbling notes down for another story idea, but I really want to get thsi one out first. Thank you for your patience And as always I am more than open to suggestions, the next chapter should be out in one to two weeks. 3


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